How to Trust a Dragon
by skywings1416
Summary: It's years later on Berk, and the children of the heroes are starting to have adventures of their own, but all is not well. Unbeknownst to Chief Hiccup, his own family is about to be ripped apart by dragons and an old nemesis. Regrettably on hiatus
1. Chapter 1

How to Trust a Dragon

Ragfridr, the Viking Chief's Daughter

Hiccup had been rudely awoken. Someone was pulling at his hair. He rolled over in bed to see the wide eyes of Ari and Ragfridr, his son and daughter.

"Whut?" he mumbled. Astrid stirred next to him and flopped herself over her husband's shoulder.

"What are you two doing up?"

"Rags had a nightmare," Ari still spoke in a squawky kind of mush-mouth, remnants of his toddler days. Ragfridr was holding tightly to her brother's hand. Her ruddy little face was tear streaked and her bottom lip trembled. "She woke me up and wouldn't stop crying till I took her to you."

Hiccup turned to Astrid.

"I'll take care of this." He kissed her on the cheek. She turned over and almost immediately fell back asleep. He carefully took the covers off, so as to not disturb Astrid any further. He picked up Ragfridr, and taking Ari's hand, led the two back downstairs to their rooms.

They passed by Toothless sleeping in front of the fire, kept lit by Toothless relighting it every few hours. It kept the house warmer. Stormfly, Astrid's Nadder, was roosting in the beams. The two opened their eye's out of simple curiosity, then became uninterested and settled back down. As he walked, Hiccup's metal leg went, _i-ee, i-ee_.

_I need to oil it,_ he thought sleepily.

He put Ari back in his room and told him he would be in to say good night in a bit. He then went into the back room where Ragfridr slept. He sat down on her bed and rocked her in his arms.

"So what was your nightmare?" Ragfridr pointed to Hiccup's metal foot, then opened her mouth and roared with a childish voice. "You dreamed about that big dragon?" She nodded her head. "That dragon can't hurt you." Hiccup lifted his daughter above his head. "You're my little Viking, aren't you? Vikings don't get scared. You know why, right?"

"Scary!" she said in a squeal.

"That's right, we are scary. No one dares to harm us, and we have dragons that scare off anyone who is foolish enough to challenge us. Feel better?" Ragfridr shook her head. Hiccup sighed. "I need to go say good night to your brother. I'll be back." Hiccup sat Ragfridr on her bed and walked out.

Every shadow unnerved the little girl, morphing into gnomes and trolls. Every creak sounded like five thousand dragons, waiting to crush her bones. She pulled her covers over her head and waited for her father to come back. Five minutes later he was sitting back down on Ragfridr's bed. Once again he brought his daughter up into his arms and this time, laid down on the bed with her.

"Dragons will never hurt you, as long as you're in my arms and neither will nightmares. I'll stay with you until you fall asleep, and in the morning, you'll be braver."

Ragfridr's eyes began to droop. Hiccup fought falling asleep himself, until his little girl drifted off to better dreams. Then, he drifted off too, and dreamed of his nightmare that he thought about every time he looked at his left leg.

Nine years later

Ragfridr hated waking up. It was always freezing in her room. Not cold, not chilly, not nippy: freezing. All year round she had to keep extra furs on her bed to stay warm. It was always morning when she wished she at least had a Terrible Terror to keep her bed warm.

She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to move from the cozy confines of her toasty bed. Behind the curtain that cut her room off from the rest of the house, Ragfridr could hear her family eating breakfast. Wooden spoons clattered against wooden bowls, fish bones crunched on dragon teeth and her father was talking to Ari about his training.

Ari was the best at everything: dragon training (a new version adapted by her father), sword fighting, flying, smiting, teasing. Everything.

"Snotlout tells me that no one can beat you at sword fighting."

"That's right, Dad. I'm the best. It's awesome. I'll be a great chief someday." Ragfridr rolled her eyes and swung her legs over her bed. The floor was _so_ cold, and it was summer! She pushed back the curtain and felt the glow of the cooking fire.

"Yeah, and with your inflated head you won't need Bladepoint to fly." Ragfridr was pulling a fur around her shoulders. She sat down opposite from her brother and plunked her head on the table.

"Yeah, and with hair like that, you won't ever need weapons to scare off foreigners." Ragfridr had the worst bed head hair in all of Berk.

"I won't have that bantering this early in the morning you two." Astrid set a bowl of hot porridge in front of her daughter and turned back to the fire. Ragfrider quickly looked at her father, horror in her eyes; Astrid could not cook. Seeing her distress, Hiccup mouthed _"I made it."_ Relieved, Ragfider took up her spoon and merrily ate her porridge.

"Ragfridr, how in Thor's beard do you get so many knots?" Astrid took a comb from off the mantle and started ripping through her daughter's red hair.

"Ow!" Ragfridr grasped the side of the table and held on so that she wouldn't fall out of her chair.

"How did you sleep last night, Ragfridr?" Hiccup grinned at his daughter with his crooked teeth showing in all their Viking glory.

"Fine," she lied. Ragfridr always had nightmares, since as long as she could remember. She would usually go running to her parents, but one day her brother told her she was too old for that, so she stopped. Now, when she woke up in the middle of the night, she'd lie awake, until all the thoughts of the terrible dream vanished.

"No nightmares about mean dragons?"

"Nope. None. Just good old dreams about being a Viking hero." Ragfridr didn't notice, but Ari looked sideways at her. He could have kicked himself for telling Rags she was too old to run to Mom and Dad when she got scared. Some nights, he heard her crying, so he would go and sit outside her door frame and listen to her sob until she fell asleep again.

Astrid had vanquished the last of Ragfridr's knots.

"Odin's good mead, Ragfridr, they get worse every day. Do you comb your hair out before you go to bed?"

"Yes," she lied again. Most nights, Ragfridr would just go to bed with her braid still in. The tie would usually fall out during the night. Astrid began to braid her hair.

"Do you want me to do that?" Hiccup asked eagerly.

"After what you did to her hair last time? No."

"Tuffnut taught me how to braid," Hiccup said pathetically. "I'll never do _that_ again. It was a onetime thing. Besides, it grew back." Astrid didn't listen.

"Alright, kids," said their mother. "I think we all have busy days today so let's get on with it. Ari, don't forget your shield, you'll need it today. No, put the sword down. You know you get wooden ones. Ragfridr, you're forgetting your shoulder plates." The Haddock family did their routine last minute scramble for everything. When they were sure they had retrieved all essential items, they put their dishes in a bucket of water to soak. Hiccup, Astrid and Ari called their dragons and went on their way. Ragfridr followed them down the steps from their house. At the bottom of the hill they all said their good-byes.

"Don't burn yourself in the forge, Hiccup," said Astrid as she kissed her husband on the cheek. "And, Ari, try not to be too good."

"But, Mom," he fake whined, "it runs in the family." She gave a light punch to his arm, then bent down and kissed the top of Ragfridr's head. "I'm flying today, do you want to join?"

"No," said Ragfridr simply. "I have a short Bard lesson today."

Hiccup and Ragfridr waved good-bye to Ari and Astrid as they made their way to the far side of the village. Today, the older kids were working on teamwork while the younger kids were practicing flying.

Ragfridr followed her father to the forge. Sometime on the way she slipped her hand into his.

"I know you had nightmares again last night."

"No, I didn't."

"Ragfridr, you can't pull the dragon scales over my eyes, no offense, Toothless." Toothless stared at Hiccup, then nudged Ragfridr. "Why don't you come to your mother and me if you still have nightmares?"

"I'm too old for that," she said with feigned dignity, "and, I'm a Viking. Vikings don't get scared."

"That's what we say, but the truth is, we do, just like people in Rome or Hibernia. Even grumpy old Grandpa Stoick has gotten scared before."

"What about Gobber?"

"Him, it's hard to tell. I've been scared before too, and you know who I talk to about it, your mother or Toothless. Holding things in like that can be hazardous to your health."

"But they're getting better. I hardly remember them when I wake up." That actually wasn't better. If you can't remember what scared you, it just makes it worse.

"Hm, tell you what, how about we skip our work for today and go flying? Just you, me and Toothless."

"Uh…" Ragfridr looked at her father's powerful Night Fury. He looked back at her with expecting eyes. After living with that reptile for eleven years, Ragfridr could understand him fairly well, just like her father could. She knew he wanted her to go flying too, but a great stone had settled in her stomach. "Uh, I really do need to go to this Bard lesson. It's very important and you've been saying you and Gobber have been having to make a surplus of weapons. So, it's probably better that you go to work and I go to my lessons."

"Always responsible, aren't you?" Hiccup hugged his daughter. "I promise you, here soon, just you and me and Toothless, we'll have a picnic." He waved a farewell to Ragfridr as he entered the forge. Toothless stayed behind with Ragfridr. He looked slyly at her.

"Don't give me that look. I really don't want to go flying today. Or, ever… Stop looking at me like that! Argh!" Ragfridr stormed off to find her friends before their flying lesson began for the day.

It wasn't too hard. Lina was waiting outside of her house for Ragfridr and she could see the others up the way.

Lina's house was interesting. Her parents hadn't quite been able to decide on the dragon head carving above the lintel. Her father rode a Gronckle, while her mother shared a Zippleback with her brother. So, sitting on the roof was a Gonckle head in the middle, with a Zippleback head on either side. All the kids in the village (including the four who lived in the house) called the three headed dragon house, 'the mutant creature.'

Lina was the only daughter of Fishlegs the Berserk and Ruffnut the Unmerciful, two of Berk's greatest Vikings. All the ballads sang of how bravely they had fought the Green Death along with Snotlout the Smug and Lina's uncle, Tuffnut the Obnoxious. Astrid's name was also sung about. The other's often liked to hear their ballad, but Hiccup found it embarrassing, and whenever he heard it, his face would go bright red and he would excuse himself, which often didn't work. Some tribe member would grab him around the shoulders and push him to the center of attention.

Lina was a chubby girl, but was very pretty for only eleven. She had very long unbraided hair that swished when she walked. She was always fretting about something, leaving her face almost always creased with worry. Today though, her face was bright, even before she saw Ragfridr coming down the path.

"Ragfridr," she said in a too cheery of a tone. "Guess what my dad did this morning?"

"He cooked breakfast."

"No, Mom did. It wasn't very good, which was odd. Mom is a really good cook, not nearly as good as my uncle, though. But, no, Dad brushed my hair today and didn't tangle it up! He wanted to braid it, but I told him baby steps. It took Uncle Tuff two hours to untangle the knots Dad put in my hair."

"It took him four hours to untangle Axelle's." Axelle was Snotlout's only daughter.

"By the way, Ragfridr, why is Toothless following you? Do you have fish?"

"No. Dad wanted to take me flying today and I think he got Toothless' hopes up. He's been looking at me like that the whole way."

"Why didn't you?"

"You know I don't really enjoy flying. You're too high above the ground and I've seen Vikings fall off. I mean our parents have fallen off their dragons and they're masters. And then there's my slight fear of…" Ragfridr bit her lip, "dragons."

"I know, but you know you disappoint your dad when you tell him no." Lina was always understanding and gave logical quips, when one was listening. She never judged anyone about their feats or defaults or looks or anything. She was the nicest person on Berk, next to Hiccup.

Truth be told, however, it wasn't just Lina who knew Ragfridr had a slight fear of dragons; the entire village knew. Ragfridr was eleven, and by custom, she should have chosen a dragon to be her companion when she was ten. She should've been taking flying lessons with the rest of her friends by now, but she had never picked a dragon.

"I'm guessing you still haven't chosen a dragon?" Lina asked.

"No."

"Ragfridr, you parents gave you and ultimatum, choose a dragon by winter or you'll never have one. Why don't you pick a Nadder, like your brother and mom?"

"They're kind of dumb and vain and too parrot-y. And they can be a little vicious. You remember that cut my brother got when he was training Bladepoint?"

"He stepped on his tail. What about a Gronckle? My dad's Meatlug is loyal and reliable."

"And even dumber than a Nadder and I've seen what happens when you wake them up."

"Well, even you have to admit they're cute when their hatchlings. What about a Monstrous Nightmare?"

"Not too crazy on the catching fire bit. I don't need a callused butt."

"Well, that leaves a Zippleback, because you certainly can't ride a Terrible Terror. And the thing about Zipplebacks is that you would need another person to ride it with you. There's no one else in our age group to share with you. "

"Those aren't necessarily the only dragons. There's a Bonrknapper."

"They're nomad dragons, they never stay in one place too long. Gobber's only visits a few times a year. Besides, they're kind of scary and there's not one soft spot to sit on them.

"Changewing."

"Good luck, finding one Ragfridr. There's really no other dragons left. The sea dragons live in the water and the others are pretty scary and spiky."

"Fine." She looked back at Toothless. "What about a Night Fury?"

"But Toothless is the only one. Your dad and grandpa think he was always the Night Fury that attacked before the Dragon Alliance"

It was true. Toothless was the only Night Fury around Berk, the whole of the north, actually. In the thirty some years since Hiccup had courageously defeated the Green Death and stopped the blood feud between Viking and dragon, not one other Night Fury had ever been seen. Hiccup suspected he came from another part of the world, having been blown by a storm to be so far north. But Night Furies were the only dragon Ragfridr genuinely liked. They were intelligent, handsome creatures and far more loyal than any other dragon around.

Ragfridr heaved a sigh.

"I guess I'll be the only dragonless Viking in a dragon riding Viking village."

The two friends' conversation had taken them all the way to the cliff where the rest of their friends were talking.

Axelle was arguing, as usual with Valknut, the third Thorston daughter.

"My dad was by far tougher than your dad during the Battle with the Green Death. His name is Tuffnut. That proves it."

"My dad heroically leapt onto the head of the Green Death and beat it in the eyes. He was blinding it."

"Yeah, but whose dad had to save your dad's butt when Hiccup went to kill the Green Death? My dad."

"My mom helped too," squeaked Lina. She always started to become nervous around her ornery cousin, Valknut. The girl had a mouth far dirtier than any seasoned sailing Viking. She could insult a full grown man back into infancy in five seconds flat.

"You're not a part of this, Lina," both shouted at her. Lina gave a wail and started to cry.

"Come on, guys. We've been through this before. My dad is the coolest of all our dads because he killed the dragon _and_ he lost a limb." Ragfridr hated it when the two fought and made Lina cry.

"Oh, we know your dad is the coolest, but we need to decide which of our dads is better than the other one," Axelle said, glaring from under her helmet at Valk.

"What about my dad?" Lina thought her dad was the best dad from Berk to Valhalla.

"Your dad is lame. Ten minutes after the battle started he fell off his dragon and was crushed by it." Valknut never sugar coated anything. She especially liked being mean to her cousin.

Lina started to cry again and Ragfridr tried to console her while the other girls started arguing again.

Axelle was almost a spitting image if her father in his youth, just more feminine. She had his stringy hair, which she kept in a long braid and she wore a helmet resembling his. The girl even had her father's thicker than tree trunk eyebrows. At her feet a young Monstrous Nightmare sat on its haunches and glared at Valknut's and Lina's orange Zippleback.

It was rather amazing that the two cousins could share a dragon, considering the two were as opposite as fire and ice. It had been their parent's decision really. Ruffnut hadn't wanted her only daughter riding a Grockle. She felt it would look undignified for a lady of future fierceness to ride a dragon with less than desirable looks and frame and they could be fairly unpredictable at times. She wanted her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Imagine the frustration she had, knowing that her daughter was a crybaby. Since Lina and Valknut were around the same age (Valknut was ten) and Valknut had no siblings after her old enough to ride a Zippleback with her, the two shared a dragon. Valknut had forced Lina to 'let' her have the sparking head, which she named Acidbreath while Lina called her head Tangerine.

"You called it 'Tangerine'!" Valknut had been furious when she heard the name.

"She's orange and tangerines are orange and… it's cute…"

"How are we supposed to be proper Viking if we go around calling our fearsome dragons FRUIT!"

"Tangerines can be scary. If you eat too much of them, their acid will give you cold sores."

"ARGH!" Valknut had started to hit Lina. She had curled up into a defensive ball crying for her to stop. Miraculously, Axelle and Ragfridr had managed to pull her off before she did too much damage.

Valknut was scary for her age. She was short, skinny, had long hair all tied up with beads and had a nasty set of teeth, that she liked to use, hidden by the most perfect sneer known to the Viking world. It was learned quickly in Berk that if Valknut says she'll chew off your ankles, you had better run, because she will. Most people thought she was so ornery due to the stories her father told her from his youth. She completely adored her father and took many of his mannerisms: belching, farting (she was told to stop that by her very angry mother, Valdis), hitting, name calling and cussing. The girl could insult the gods if she wanted to and even they would fall back in shame.

"My dad is better than your dad because your dad looks like a Nadder butt on a Gronckle's butt."

"You take that back, you foam-brained hair monster!" Axelle and Valknut lunged for each other, shrieking insults and throwing fists in the air. Valknut started to bite Axelle and Axelle pulled at Valknut's hair.

"P-p-p-please, you-oo too stop it. You kn~ow out parents don't like it when we fight." Lina put her hands up defensively and jumped from foot to foot.

"You stay out of this, you sappy faced sea cow!"

That did it.

Lina let out an ear splitting shriek. Ragfridr covered her ears, kneeling to the ground. Toothless put his ears back and the other dragons howled in protest to the high wail. Axelle and Valknut fell away from each other and rolled on the ground, trying to block out the screech.

"You idiots!" Ragfridr yelled at the two. "Why did you have to mention her weight?"

"I didn't mean to," Valknut actually sounded genuine.

"Make her stop already."

She did stop.

The three girls looked hesitantly up and wanted to run immediately. For, before them, stood a thunder faced Lugnut, Lina's protective older brother. He had put his hand over Lina's mouth. She blinked a few times, as if she had woken up in a place she didn't recognize.

"Oh, mollusk." Axelle and Valknut sat up and grinned sheepishly at Lugnut. One wouldn't think he was scary due to his thin frame and dorky acne pocked face, but he was. He was not a Berserk, like his father, at least, no one thought he was, but he was born on a Thorsday and thus had the quick anger of the thunder god. Axelle pointed her finger at Valknut, who growled at her in response.

"Oh, I know who the instigator here is." Lugnut had a very high pitched voice for a boy of fifteen. He extended a skinny arm to grab hold of his little cousin. She attempted a dodge, which resulted in him catching her hair.

"Ow, let go, you sea horse! I'll dismember you and feed your entrails to the Sharkworms!"

"Oh, I don't think that will be happening." Valknut stopped struggling. Her face turned very white, making her freckles stand out. Very slowly she turned her head.

There was only one person and one person only who struck fear into Valknut's otherwise fearless heart, and that person was right behind her.

Hazelnut, her older sister by three years, stood a ways up, arms crossed, her eyes shadowed. The other older kids were walking past her, to see what the brawl had been about. Valknut could see the aura of anger fuming off of Hazel. She half expected the flowers in her hair to catch fire.

"Hi, sis, I was just, you know, playing around. Being, fair about it and…" In seconds, Hazel had swooped down on her sister and was dragging her off for a punishment, Valknut making excuses the entire way.

Lugnut put an arm around his sister.

"Where is Hazel taking Valk?" she asked. (One odd thing about Lina; once she was brought out of a fit, she couldn't remember why she had gone into one.)

"Oh, just sister talk."

"So, what were you two fighting about this time?" Dirtlout shoved Axelle's helmet over her eyes. She swung her arms out, but missed making contact with her brother's stomach. "Let me guess," he continued, "our dad is better than her dad."

"Well, he is!" Axelle straightened her helmet. She was ready to fight her brother, but was lifted off of her feet. She gave a yelp and swung her legs back and forth.

"Causing trouble again!" Spitlout, the oldest son of Snotlout was the self-proclaimed enforcer on Berk. He liked to keep people from fighting each other, particularly when it was the younger kids who had started a brawl. He fit the part, he was over six foot tall, and he was only sixteen. His arms were as thick as a normal person's thigh (by normal, I mean non-Viking). He was almost always scowling about something, but Spitlout was genuinely nice.

"Yeah, I was fighting! What are you gonna do? Tell Dad? He doesn't care!"

"But Mom does." Axelle stopped struggling.

"You wouldn't." Spitlout only raised his eyebrow in a don't-tempt-me sort of fashion. He dropped Axelle and walked over to Ari.

Ari was talking to Butternut, the oldest child in the Thorston family. She was relatively quiet, but was always chatty when it came to Ari. Spitlout stopped dead in his tracks. He tried to from words, but none came out.

"Oh, hi, Spitlout. Keeping the peace again? I'm so sorry for my little sister. She's such a handful, and Dad doesn't discipline her." Butternut bowed at her waist.

"Ah, hey, don't even think about it. My sister was an instigator too. Those two are like vinegar and water. It happens."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Butternut began to swing her spear from side to side. Then a thought crossed her mind. "Ari, Hazel and I need to practice flying and you're an expert at it, everyone says so. Would you come practice with us this afternoon?"

"You know what, I would love to, but my dad is _making _me help him in the forge today. But," Ari pushed Spitlout forward. "We can spare Spit here for two hours, he's kind of useless in the forge, and" Ari grabbed Dirtlout around his neck," I'm sure Dirtlout would love to come too. He needs all the practice he can get." Dirtlout liked Hazelnut, but always failed when it came to getting her attention.

"I never need to practice anything!" he said defensively. He really didn't, but Dirtlout was l-a-z-y. If he put one ounce of effort into his training, he would be better than Ari, but he didn't work at anything, except coming up with stupid plans to make Hazelnut fall for him.

"I can't do anything today," Spitlout started, his face going red being so close to Butternut. "You need me in the forge too."

"Oh, that's a shame. Maybe I'll just go with Lugnut." Ari gave a quick jab in Spitlout's side.

"But, like Ari said, I can be spared for a couple of hours. We just can't go anyplace too far." He grinned stupidly. Butternut smiled back.

"Great, you know, I think I will invite Lugnut. His Gronckle has been leaning lately. Hey, Lugnut!" Butternut ran off to talk to her cousin. The two brothers bowed their heads in the misery that would ensue with Lugnut there. The boys couldn't possibly properly ask the girls out if their cousin was there. He always liked to rattle on about dragon this and dragon that and 'have you read this book by Chief Hiccup', that sort of thing. Ari slapped the two of them up alongside their heads.

"Ha, ha." Bloodlout, the youngest of the Jorgensons laughed at the stupidity of his brothers. Bloodlout was in the same part of the training as Ari and his brothers, just making it at thirteen. For being a son of the ever charming Snotlout, Bloodlout was rather good looking for a Jorgenson. He had his father's broad shoulders, just like his brother's did; however, he did not have his father coarse features, resembling the more delicate visage of his mother, Grid and he even had her curly brown hair.

Ragfridr came up next to Bloodlout. She liked talking to him.

"I see your brothers are ever the romantics."

"Ha, yeah-" Bloodlout just realized that Ragfridr was standing next to him. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish. His heart began to race. For some reason he picked up his foot and immediately tripped over nothing and fell to the ground.

"Bloodlout, are you alright?" Ragfridr extended her hand to him. He jumped up and started to laugh nervously.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, fine, fine. I have, tough skin. Runs in the family."

"You have a red mark on you cheek." Ragfridr unconsciously put out her hand up to look at it. Bloodlout backed away quickly and again tripped over nothing.

"That?" He stumbled up. "I was born with that. Birthmark. Oh, hey, will you look at that sun. I think I'm going to be late for training. Don't want that to happen. Bye, Ragfridr!" Bloodlout ran up the path, stumbling all the way, his Nightmare, Firelight following closely.

"Bye, Bloodlout," Ragfridr called after him. She couldn't understand why he was always so flustered. She worried that he was like that in training too (no, he wasn't, Ragfridr just made him jumpy). Ragfridr sighed.

Valknut came down the path, looking cross, with tears welling in her eyes. A great big red hand print was streaked across her cheek. Hazlenut was right behind her, smiling brightly and waving to her older sister.

"Butternut! We'd better hurry. Dad and Aunt Ruff don't like it when we're late."

"Okay! Bye Ari, Spitlout. Valknut, behave yourself." Butternut ran up to her sister. Hazelnut whistled for their Zippleback to follow and they disappeared over the crest of the hill. Spitlout and Dirtlout waved dumbly after them. Axelle stared at them, horrified. She punched the two in the stomach, seizing them from their love struck state.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Stop looking googily eyed at Valknut's sisters!"

"Yeah, stop looking googily eyed at my sisters!"

"And why, pray tell, can we not look at two pretty girls?" Dirtlout always sounded irritated, but that was just a facade. With Axelle, he was always irritated.

"Because, if you two like them and they like you back, that means you're going to get married."

"One can only hope," said Spitlout hopefully.

"And that means I'll be related to Valknut. I don't want _her_ for a sister!" Axelle pointed her finger at Valknut.

"Yeah, and I don't want _her_ for a sister!" Valknut pointed her finger at Axelle.

"Sorry, kiddies," the two brothers pushed the girls aside, "but you can't stop the wheels of love."

"And you two would make great sisters; you already act like sisters."

"No we don't!" the two shouted simultaneously, their faces going a red as a ligonberry. Ragfridr, Ari, Lina and Lugnut gave a laugh.

Lugnut said goodbye to his sister and followed after Spit and Dirt. Ari waited behind, wanting to tease his sister one last time before he had to go.

"I thought you were going to your Bard lesson." He pressed down on her head with his hand. She pulled herself away and flattened her hair out.

"You told me yesterday that you didn't have-" Ragfridr quickly stepped on Lina's toe. She gave a yelp. The others looked at her. "I stepped on a… rock."

"It's later today."

"Really? Don't break any glass with your voice. You shriek like the wind." He ran away before Ragfridr could hit him. She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll see you later, Rags. Come on, Bladepoint!" Ari's Nadder jumped up into the air. He grabbed the saddle as he passed and swung up on to the great beast, showing off in all his pompous grandeur.

"Oh…" Ragfridr's friends blushed at Ari's display. She rolled her eyes and pinched the three of them.

"Ow!" they all exclaimed. Axelle and Valknut glared at her. Line, however, looked sideways at her.

"Why did you lie about your Bard lesson? You don't have one today.

"You don't?" Axelle was surprised at this news.

"You lied? Why?" Valknut was only half interested. She could care less what dragonless Ragfridr did.

"I just thought it would be easier than talking my way out of having to go watch his eminence, the Viking protégé."

"Oh, come on, we all know my brother could fly circles around your brother with on leg cut off, if he only tried." Axelle liked Ari more than her brothers, but she took any chance she could to put someone else down. It had to have been somewhere in her family traits.

"You could watch us," said Lina hopefully. "Your mom is teaching today and I'm sure she'd let you ride with her."

"No, I already told her I had a lesson and Dad thinks that too."

"So what are you going to do today?" Axelle always wondered what Ragfridr did in her spare time. She didn't have a dragon to ride and had never picked up a weapon to practice with. She must get terribly bored.

"Oh, I don't know." Ragfridr dug her boot into the dirt. "Go for a walk, review some ballads, work on my machine designs: my usual stuff. I'll probably go to the forge in the afternoon."

"Sounds boring," said Valknut flatly. "You can go bore your soul to Valhalla, but we're going to go flying. Have fun." Valknut called for Acidbreath and Tangerine. As they walked off, Valknut began the argument of the name Lina had picked out.

"Tangerine, you really couldn't pick something like, Rust or Fireglow or something. Tangerine. We'll be the scourge of the Northern Sea."

"But I don't want to be a scourge…"

"You will if I say you do!"

"Wah!"

Ragfridr watched sadly as her friends disappeared slowly up to the bluff where flying lessons took place. More than once she wished she could be with them, but something always held her back. Toothless nudged her. She started. She had almost forgotten the dragon was there.

"What?" He moaned and rubbed his face into her side. "Yeah, I know. I'm lonely without them, but I have you." She scratched him behind his head. He purred slightly. "Well, come on, let's get to the forest. I feel like sketching some birds today." Ragfridr began to walk away.

Toothless looked after her. A devious thought passed through his reptilian mind. He charged at Ragfridr, biting down on her belt, slipping it in his mouth effortlessly.

"Huh?"

The beast then ran and leapt and flapped all the way in to the woods of Berk, Ragfridr protesting all the way.


	2. Chapter 2

How to Trust a Dragon

There's Something in The Air

Irony is not something Vikings excel in; however, the very definition of it was being played out before the young Vikings of Berk in the 'teamwork training.'

The Terrible Twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, stood before sixteen teens, ranging in age from fifteen to thirteen. They were laying down the basics of teamwork, which appeared to be a difficult thing; the two were trying to step on the other's toes as well as punch the other.

"Teamwork is essential," Ruff dodged a blow from her brother without even looking, "in battle. You never know when your life will fall in another's hands."

"Yeah," Tuff stepped aside so that Ruff's foot just barely missed his. "If you can't work with someone in a difficult situation, you might as well be dead."

"Your dragons are your partners, but they won't always be there to save you."

"Take Ruff and me when we and Hiccup and the others defeated the Green Death; we couldn't have done it if we all weren't working together for a common goal." Tuffnut ducked just in time from a nasty looking punch, holding on to his helmet.

"You need to make sure someone always has your back." She turned sideways as Tuffnut swiped at her back. "Now, you might think that there is no glory in working together, but everyone needs help eventually. I'm sure you all heard about Beowulf? He went to defeat a dragon alone and what happened?" No one answered her. "He got burnt to a crisp. And there were too many weaklings, not willing to help him, except for Wiglif. And he was made the new chief, so that just goes to show you, allies are essential in battle."

"So, time to show us- oof!" Ruffnut finally made contact with her brother's back.

"Time to show us what you got. Get into pairs!"

The sixteen teenage Vikings assembled themselves into pairs. Ari and Spitlout stood together, their dragons standing loyally by. Lugnut paired himself with Bloodlout, Butternut and Hazelnut stayed together and Dirtlout paired himself with Phlegma's granddaughter, Ingrid. The others all paired up and stood at attention, awaiting the next command.

"Alright, interesting pairings." Tuffnut surveyed the trainees. "You picked people you know pretty well, people you hang out with. But maybe they won't be right there by your side in battle. I'll let it slide this time, but next time, find someone you're not that familiar with. You never know who you will be with in battle, so you should be able to work with anyone."

"We'll start with a simple spar." Ruffnut handed out wooden swords and axes to the kids. "We always used real weapons," she was saying to her brother.

"Keep in mind, we had dragons coming after us. Hiccup didn't want people to get hurt, like they used to."

"Typical, he never could lift a hammer or swing and axe. I bet you're relieved; you don't have to worry about getting hurt." Brother and sister punched the other's arm as they took their positions in front.

"Now, who shall go first?" Eight pairs of hands went up.

"Against us." Ruffnut grinned cruelly at the young Vikings. Seven pairs of hands went slowly down. Ari and Spitlout still had theirs up. "Of course the son of our chief would volunteer. Should we apologize to your dad now, or just beat you up anyway."

"Spitlout and I can take you."

"Ooh, confident. Alright, let's see what you got." Tuffnut and Ruffnut took up their own wooden swords and shields. The two boys checked their shields. The others moved to the sides of the arena. The twins stepped into the center, scarred by years of dragon fights from the earlier days. Ari and Spitlout stood opposite of them.

"Most people don't fight with rules, but we will. One, no dragons." Reluctantly, the two boys sent Bladepoint and Blazer away. "Two, there are three vitals that will signal you have lost. If your opponent hits you on your chest, stomach or head, you lose. And three," Tuff paused for a dramatic effect, "no cheating. This is just a mock battle, not the real thing. You can be as nasty as you want on a real battlefield, but we don't need to see any blood today. I don't need your parents mad at me."

"We also don't need to see your yellow blood," his sister said snidely. Tuffnut shoved her helmet over her eyes.

"We will begin. Take positions!" Ari and Spitlout braced their feet on the stone flooring. The twins' Zippleback placed its tail between the two opponents. After a few seconds it raised it, signaling the start of the spar.

Ari and Siptlout immediately lunged at the brother and sister raising their shields and swinging their swords. The twins dodged and cracked their swords on the backs of Ari and Spitlout. The two whirled around in time to parry the swift swords as they were brought down again. The two boys were surprised by the sudden change in the siblings. Five seconds ago, they were trying to take each other's eyes out, now they were ferociously fighting a common adversary.

They continued their rain of blows, splitting the two boys from the safety of the other's reach. The twins were back to back, neatly defending themselves with little effort. In a quick pounce, Ruffnut lunged at Spitlout, striking him in the chest and knocking him onto his hindquaters. She held the point of her sword, poised over Spitlout's throat.

"You lose," she said lowly.

Ari was frantically blocking strong blows from Tuffnut. He was being backed up closer and closer to the wall. He parried a left swing and rolled to the right. As he came to his feet he was struck to the ground. Stars splayed themselves across his eyes. Tuffnut had swung with all his might at his head.

"You lose," Tuffnut sounded smug. Ruffnut came up to him and crossed her arms, smirking down at Ari.

"Why do you think you lost?" she asked.

"You two are brother and sister. Of course you beat us!" Ari panted heavily. He hadn't realized how winded he was. "You two probably function on the same wave lengths. You've been stuck together since birth."

"And you and Spitlout have been friends since the time you could crawl." Ruff's voice rang out in the arena, leaving a strange silence behind it.

"Familiarity," started Tuff, "does not mean you have the upper hand. It could-"

"-And it also could not. You need to see what your allies are doing before you make your own moves. Every action will have a reaction, and depending on the action, the reaction could send all of you to Valhalla."

"When we battled the Green Death, none of us had ever actually done anything with Hiccup before."

"But we trusted him and listened to him."

"The basics of teamwork." The two let their words sink in to the young minds. "Alright! Find someone to spar with. Let's get on with this lesson." Tuffnut pulled Spitlout up and Ruffnut pulled Ari up. They were paired against Lugnut and Bloodlout.

Deep down, Ari was fuming. He had been humiliated in front of the others. Him, the best at everything, the Viking protégé of Berk was just put down by two of the most incompetent looking Vikings in Berk. He was glad Rags hadn't been there to see him; she never would have let him live it down.

Speaking of Ragfridr, she was currently having a rather unpleasant romp through the woods, being swung merrily from Toothless' mouth. The dragon kept leaping up in the air and flapping his wings, carrying the two in the air for a couple hundred yards. Ragfridr kept yelling at Toothless to put her down, but the dragon wasn't listening. He was trying to fly, so that Ragfridr could fly too.

Ragfridr wasn't _that _scared, but her heart did race. Every time the ground went farther away from her, she would shut her eyes and say a small pray to Woden.

She so wanted to be let down, but she was being treated like a dragon pup. Never before had Ragfridr wished she had gone to watch her friends fly. At least if she was there, she could be safely on the ground.

Hiccup's hammer had a dull ring. Gobber could tell. His shoulders were slumped and he had that usual scowl he would get when he was worried about something.

Gobber sighed. When would he ever be free of complaining Haddocks?

"What's eating at you?" Gobber quenched a sword he was forging. It hissed like an angry animal then fell as silent as wind.

"Oh, it's nothing really, except," he paused. Gobber waited patiently. He was well trained in the art of listening to a Haddock. "You know Ragfridr doesn't have a dragon."

"The whole village knows, Hiccup."

"Well, I worry about her. Not that I want her to be like everyone else, she's free to be whoever she wants, but… her fear of dragons has been haunting her dreams.. Ragfridr has been having nightmares and she won't tell anyone about them. I think they're starting to eat at her. and it's all caused by her phobia."

"Is that it? Tell her to put an onion under her pillow. That will scare the nightmares away."

"An onion?"

"Yeah, works for me."

"I don't think that's going to work for her. The nightmares are about dragons attacking and looting like they used to. I've told her time and time again, the dragons won't do that. But, then she'll point to my leg and say, 'a dragon did that to you.' I just don't know anymore."

"Hiccup, you can't do much in this situation. Ragfridr has fears of her own, fears she'll need to face by herself. You won't always be there to hold her hand. She'll always be coming into contact with dragons; she'll just have to learn how to live with them."

"But how can she? She lives in a village full of dragons and scared half to death of them. She'll really only goes near Toothless and her friends' dragons. She terrified of Stormfly and Bladpoint and they're always at home. I don't know how she'll ever be able to stop fearing them when they're always there."

"You're thinking about this too much. People grow out of fear. Why I used to be afraid of wool."

"What?"

"And now, I have a pet sheep, isn't that right Phil?"

"Bah!"

Gobber shrugged and continued his work on the sword, switching out his clamps with a hammer. Hiccup just listened to the beat of his own hammer, worrying about his daughter.

What was he supposed to do with her? Take her some place with no dragons? He had no idea if a place like that even existed. He'd been around the world a few times: Rome, Hibernia, Britannia, Gall, Saxony, Ruthenia; they all had dragons and the people were rather unsavory, particularly the Romans. Hiccup prayed everyday he would never meet another cursed Roman. Lousy lot of country stealing, blasphemous barbarians. They fed their own people to wild animals. The worst the Vikings ever did was send their unwanted people out to sea tied to a mast.

Hiccup really had no idea what to do about his daughter. He wasn't like his dad in the aspect he wanted her to be just like everyone else in the village; he just wanted her to be happy. And if she was happy being a bard and naturalist, he was fine with that. She was also an inventor and Hiccup loved the hours he and her would spend together, building models of machines. Ari was a blacksmith apprentice; however, he had not inherited his father's mechanical brilliance. He was more like his mother in the, 'just lop its head off with an axe,' aspect.

Thinking of Ari, Hiccup realized that he and Spitlout should be done with training and arriving for work. Hiccup set his tools down and went to the doorway to watch for his son.

He was coming up the path, his blonde hair reflecting the sunlight. He was walking with a limp and he was favoring the side of his head. He looked very cross, his lip was brought up into a grimace and he was mumbling under his breath. As he approached, Hiccup asked him how training went.

"I got my butt handed to me on a gold platter, cooked in the fires of Niffelheim and served with a side of humiliation. How can those two sit there and try to attack each other, but take down their opponent?"

"Ruff and Tuff and good. Why do you think they're in charge of the 'teamwork training'. They were like that in the old dragon training too. They were always saving the other's back. There was one time the two found themselves face to face with a Nadder. They were in the blind spot, but the two started arguing and the Nadder heard them and shot at them. Ruff pulled Tuff out of the way, just before he was burnt to a crisp. Interestingly enough, those two were the only ones who actually stayed on their dragon when we fought the Green Death."

"I still say it's because they've been stuck together since birth."

"I don't think that's true. You have to be able to trust your partner. Right, Gobber."

"Sure as a sheep's bum is pink when you shear it."

"Bah?"

"No shearing today Phil, don't you worry."

"Right…" Ari still could not get used to the odd man with interchangeable hands.

"A really odd team," Hiccup continued, turning to Ari, "is Snotlout and Fishlegs; those two are polar opposites, arguing all that time and they never listening to the other, yet they work very well together."

"What about you and Mom?" Ari was putting on his apron and gloves.

"Ah-ha, we weren't always the dynamic pair we are today."

"He's right. She would beat him into three Thor's day from last Freya's day."

"Yes, thank you Gobber for summing that up."

"Probably still can."

"Gobber!"

"Oh, come on, Hiccup, you know it's true."

"Ari, maybe this will help. Toothless and I are inseparable, right? We have a relationship built on mutual trust. It took awhile, but once we learned we needed each other to fly, well, you know the rest. What I'm trying to tell you is; don't be so sore over this. The twins are the best team out there, but you could pair them with someone like… I don't know, Gobber, and they would still come out on top."

"So you're saying they're better them me."

"As of right now, yes, but aren't you the best at everything?"

"Speaking of partners, where's your inseparable friend, Ari? He should be helping us today."

"Oh, he was, volunteered for flying practice with Butternut and Hazelnut." Ari ginned like Fenrir.

"Let me guess who 'volunteered' him." Hiccup eyed his son dully. Ari shrugged.

"Well, that's as fine as wool, but someone is going to have to pick up his slack and my back has been killing me like I have Midgard on it."

"Oh, listen to the old timer complain," Ari laughed.

"Oh, I could still take you, boy. My bones might be old, but they still remember how to fight."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just go rambling about one of your stories." Ari pulled some iron ore out and shoved it into the forge. He worked the bellows, making the coals blistering hot.

Hiccup looked solemnly at his son before turning to his work, thinking:

_At least I have one child I don't have to worry about._

Ragfridr was not happy. Not happy at all. She had stinging cuts on her face from being wacked with twigs and her hair had become a nest fit for rats. Leaves stuck out from every angle from her hair and clothes. A boot had come off and she had had to back track to find it. She glared at the reptile now walking smugly beside her.

"You think that was riot, don't you. You know I didn't want to go flying, yet you tried anyway. Typical dragon." Toothless just squared his shoulders and snorted.

Ragfridr was quickly running through her mind what she could possibly tell her parents to explain her appearance; if she told the truth, they would know she was lying about a Bard lesson. Maybe they would believe that she was mauled by Terrible Terrors. No, they only attack if someone irritated them or if someone had fish, and Ragfridr wasn't the type to carry around fish. She fell down a ledge and rolled down a hill? Better, but they still probably wouldn't believe it, especially if Toothless was with her; he wouldn't let her fall, at least all the way down.

Ragfridr sighed. There was no escaping it; she had to tell the truth.

Ragfridr slowed her pace as she neared the forge. She knew Hiccup wouldn't be that mad, but she didn't like having to admit that she had lied.

_Maybe I should sneak around the village and clean myself up at home. I'll tell Dad I got sick and couldn't come to the shop today. Argh, Freya's breast milk, I can't fix this with another lie. Besides, Toothless will snitch on me._ Ragfridr looked suspiciously at the smug reptile. He was looking so pleased with himself. He thought he had done a good thing.

"I'll get you for this, Toothless." He looked up at her innocently.

"Ragfridr?"

She stopped dead. She was standing in front of the smith shop. _She had accidentally walked right up to her father!_

"Ragfridr, what happened to you? You look like a forest troll."

"Uh… would you believe I was attacked by forest trolls?"

"Maybe, but not really."

"Well, if you must know," she bit her lip. Maybe it didn't have to be the whole truth. "Toothless kidnapped me."

"Oh, really?" Hiccup looked suspiciously at the dragon. He looked back with a ' yeah, so what' sort of face. "I was wondering where he had gotten off to."

"So you believe me?"

"Of course. I'd believe any mischief you got into if Toothless was involved. Come're, I'll get the leaves out of your hair before your mother sees you." Hiccup rolled a barrel out from the forge doorway and picked his daughter up like a doll and sat her down. He undid her braid and started picking the leaves out. Just then, Ari walked out of the forge.

"Dad, where are the spare forceps? Whoa, is that matted mass the lair of Loki? Rags, what in all Valhalla happened to you?

"Toothless kidnapped her."

"Oh, I wish I was there to see that."

"Weren't you asking Dad about forceps?" Ragfridr glowered at her brother. If only she knew of his humiliation earlier that morning, then _she _would have something to hold over _his_ head.

"Go check in the back room. They're probably on the table somewhere." Hiccup was now combing his fingers through Ragrifdr's hair. She noticed he was gentler than Mom. Ari nodded at Hiccup, but still stood there, grinning slightly at Ragfridr.

"I thought you had work to do?"

"It can wait, Rags." Ragfridr thought of the worse curse that Valknut had ever said and thought it towards Ari. He really did enjoy torturing Ragfridr.

"Okay, sweetie, all the knots are out. So I'll just braid it."

"Are you sure about that, Dad? I mean, last time, her hair caught fire."

"Why does everyone bring that up? I can do it, now get back to work Ari." Ari gave one last glance at Ragfridr. He puffed out his cheeks and blew out the air in a mock explosion sound bringing his hands up and out as he went back inside the forge. Ragfridr rolled her eyes.

She felt her dad very carefully splitting the hair into three parts and then moving each piece back and forth.

"There. It looks good. So, Ragfridr, are you hungry?" Her stomach rumbled. "Your tummy sounds like a giant. Why don't we go up to the mead hall and get something to eat?"

_What? No! He'll know I didn't have a Bard lesson today!_

"Can we go to the house instead? It's closer, and we can bring something back for Ari and Gobber."

"Alright. Come on, bud, let's go get lunch." Hiccup gestured to Toothless as he helped Ragfridr down. Toothless started hacking and coughed up part of a fish. He looked expectantly at Hiccup. "Uh, no thanks, I think we can find something." Hiccup took Ragfridr's hands and started up the path.

Toothless looked at his rejected fish. He couldn't understand it; sometimes Hiccup would eat the fish and sometimes he wouldn't. (Toothless never noticed that Hiccup only ate the fish when Astrid cooked something.) Suddenly, a swarm of Terrible Terrors jumped on the fish. Insulted, Toothless shot little fireballs at the lot of them a scooped up the fish, swallowing it. Again. The Terrors glared at him and Toothless gave them a threatening growl.

"Toothless," called Hiccup, "you coming, bud?" Leaving the little pests behind, Toothless charged up the path and leapt onto Hiccup's back, knocking him to the ground and making him fall all the way down the hill, leaving Ragfridr at the top, laughing at her father and Toothless.

By the time Hiccup, Ragfridr and Toothless got back with lunch, Spitlout had shown up. They passed out some bread and meat, but when Ragfridr handed Spitlout some food, he didn't take it. He had a dumb grin and a dreamy far off look. Ragfridr, ever the observant little Viking, knew the reason.

"I'm guessing someone got to spend some time with the ever lovely Butternut."

"What was your first clue?" Ari looked sideways at his friend, shaking his head.

"We went flying today and… she was so graceful, like a Valkyrie, riding through the air on her majestic dragon."

"It's a Zippleback. A _Hideous_ Zippleback." Spitlout didn't even hear Ragfridr.

"She was so beautiful."

"Ugh, can someone dunk his head in water so we can get some work done it this place? While you were off doing sissy synchronized flying, I've been picking up your slack. And that's all fine and dandy, but it's not easy when you only have one hand."

"Gobber, you used to never complain when I was your apprentice."

"That's because all I did was babysit you, now I'm running a daycare. I've got your kids, Spitlout and then his brother visit him as well as all their little friends. This is no place for children."

"Why, because they could lose a hand?" Ari joked. "Is that how you lost yours?"

"You've never heard that story have?"

"Okay, Gobber, we don't need any of your stories right now. You can tell them at dinner, in the mead hall, where stories are meant to be told."

"Oh, you're just complaining because you've heard it a hundred times."

"Hundred and two, actually."

"Really? I've told it that many times?"

"Come on, you two back to work." Hiccup shooed the two boys off with his hands. Spitlout didn't move, so Ari pinched him on the arm, with no reaction. Then, with an expressionless face, Ari wetted his index finger and placed it, rather deeply, in Spitlout's ear. He jumped, dropping the sword he was smiting and rubbed his ear, glaring at Ari. Ari just grinned back his famous, 'yes- I-did-something, but-are-you-going-to-do-anything-about-it', grin.

Ragfridr pulled herself up on to a barrel to finish eating her lunch.

"So, Ragfridr, when is your Bard lesson today. You said it was later this afternoon, right?" Ari didn't even look up from his work.

_That Fenrir in human's skin,_ thought Ragfridr. He knew she had been lying earlier that day and now he was going to let Dad know. Well, maybe she could fix it.

"I thought it was, but I checked right after you guys left and it turns out I didn't have any lessons today." _Get through that, troll rubbish!_

"I thought you said Toothless kidnapped you."

"He did, but it was after I went to the mead hall."

"Mm-hm." Ari looked skeptically at her from the corners of his eyes. He shifted his eyes forward. Ragfridr turned her head to see what he was looking at. Hiccup was standing with his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly and his eyebrows were barley knit together.

_On the sweet, flowing hair of Freya, Ari you son of a rat eating troll!_

"Yeah, it was kind of a crazy morning. So," she shoved the last of her bread in her mouth, "I think I'm going to work on some designs." Ragfridr jumped off her barrel and walked as quickly as she could past her father into the back room, avoiding his gaze. She knew he was going to talk to her later, and she dreaded the inevitable.

҉

Lina was trying hard to focus on the clouds, instead of Valknut's and Axelle's arguing.

_That one looks like a long boat filled with flowers._

"I was better in flying today, Astrid said so."

"That's because you've only got you, troll-brow. I can't show off my true flying abilities with a cousin like that." Valknut jabbed her thumb in Lina's direction.

"Well, maybe if you listened to her every once in awhile, you two could actually do something." Line looked at her cousin with a content smile.

"She's right, you know."

"Oh, what do you know, flower lover?"

"A lot more than you." Valknut bonked her cousin on the head. "Ow!"

"Hey, knock it off, you're parents are coming." Valknut hid her fist behind her back and took on an innocent face.

Walking down the path, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Valdis made their way to the docks. Ruff was holding onto her two youngest sons' hands. The boys were twins, but they looked nothing alike. Fishscales was the older twin and he was as skinny as a twig and he had the makings of his mother's narrow face, while Fishfins was a little shorter than his brother and was chubby and he looked just like his father. Fishscales was as mean as eight year olds go and he kind of conned his brother into a lot of his pranks. On his own, Fishfins was a rather pleasant boy and didn't talk much. He said a word here and there when asked a question, but his brother was his mouth.

Tuff had his arm around his wife's waist, trying to walk proudly, which was difficult; he had two leeches attached to his legs. Tuff's youngest children were also twins, just like his sister, but he had a boy and a girl. They were named Waternut and Tuffnut the third and they were three years old. Waternut was the older one. The two absolutely adored their father and they would cry when he left in the morning. If he wasn't careful, the two would latch onto his legs and sit on the top his feet and stay there. And once they were on, it was like pulling teeth from a dragon trying to get them off.

"Come on you little buggers, get off. How are you going to feel if I trip because of you two?"

"No!" They gripped on tighter. Tuffnut sighed. Valdis giggled and noticed her daughter.

"Valknut, sweetie, you didn't come home for lunch."

"I stayed longer at practice," she said, puffing out her chest. "I'm going to be the best dragon rider in Berk."

"Well, I think you're going to have to share the glory with Lina, too." Valk's shoulder's drooped and she frowned at Lina. She grinned nervously.

"How was flying practice?" Fishlegs asked.

"It was great, Daddy." Lina quickly focused on her father. "Astrid took us further out to sea. She even did some loop-the-loops for us."

"Astrid said I was the best today," Axelle said nonchalantly.

"Oh did she?" Ruff, turned and smiled at Axelle. "Your father is going to love that." She turned to her brother. "He'll rub it in your face that his daughter is better than your daughter."

"Hey, at least Valknut doesn't cr-" Still smiling sweetly, Ruff punched Tuff in the face.

"Lina," continued Ruff, "can you watch your brothers for a bit. Daddy and I have business down at the docks." Ruff let go of her sons and ushered them to their sister. The two took hold their mother's hands again.

"I don't want to go with Lina," shouted Fishscales. "She'll get mad at us!"

"For the last time, you sister is not a Berserk and you are staying with her, because we have work to do." Ruff tried to pull her hands out of theirs.

"No! She will! Why can't we stay with Aunt Valdis or Lugnut?"

"Fishscales, I would never hurt you or Fishfins."

"You say that now," Scales accused her, "but I know you too well."

"Enough!" Ruff swatted at Scales head, just barely missing him. "You're staying with Lina and that's that."

"But, but, Dad?" Scales looked at Fishlegs for help. He just smiled and shrugged.

"Your mother's word is final." He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

"Later," she whispered to him, a devious glint in her eye.

"Are you going fishing?" Axelle looked to see if they had any nets.

"Nope," answered Fishlegs, "Hiccup has a weird feeling. He thinks there's something in the air that's not right. He wants us to take some boats out into the bay and see if we can find anything."

"Something in the air? What does that mean Daddy?"

"It means that something's not right."

"How would Hiccup know something like that?" asked Valknut, turning to Axelle as if she would have the answer.

"It's something only battle seasoned warriors like us could know. You see girls; we've developed a sixth sense for danger, a third eye for foreboding premonitions." Tuffnut sounded impressive as he talked, right up to point when he walked into a pole.

"Yep, only battle seasoned warriors like us have that sixth sense. So that means you don't count, bro."

"Shut up, dragon butt. The sun was in my eyes."

The twins continued to argue, even as they waved good-bye to the girls.

"I'll see you later tonight, you three. Boys, be good."

"I don't think she needs to worry," Scales said to his brother out of the side of his mouth.

"Valknut, stay out of as much trouble as you can."

"He means all trouble," Valdis called as she gave her husband a scolding glare.

Once their parents were out of earshot, Lina said:

"It's kind of hard to believe our parents are Berk's best. They don't act like it."

"Of course not," commented Axelle, "who wants to be a hero all the time?"

"I do," Valknut called up to the heavens.

Ragfridr kept glancing over at an old drawing her father had drawn years ago, as she drew her own version of it. It was creased and stained and the ink had run at some point, but the picture was still clear. The notes on the side were almost illegible scribbles, but Ragfridr was able to make them out.

It was some sort of an alternative design for a catapult. It was not like the ones in the village on the cliffs, where rocks were loaded in and the tension was released by a lever. A single large boulder was loaded into it and looked like a counter weight was the driving force behind the launch. Needless to say, the odd catapult intrigued Ragfridr and she was intent on recreating her own version. So it is understandable that she did not hear Hiccup come up behind her.

"Ragfridr, what's that?"

"Gah! Dad! What?" She looked back at her drawing and quickly covered it up with her arms. "I just found an old drawing of yours and…"

"Oh, I remember this." Hiccup picked up his old sketch. "I drew this right after I saw some Romans using one. It worked so much better than the catapults we have here on Berk. But I just couldn't get the blueprints right. I destroyed a lot of boats trying though. Let me tell you, the village was not happy with me. We had to rely on our dragons to fish for us for while, until more boats were built. You can imagine how that turned out." Ragfridr smiled and nodded. Hiccup put the parchment back down on the drafting table. Ragfridr returned to her work and forgot about her father standing over her. "So, my little Viking, you didn't have a Bard lesson today?" Ragfridr didn't look up.

"No."

"We could have gone flying."

"I guess."

"Or gone with your mother."

"Yeah."

Hiccup was silent again. He started pulling tools and such off the shelves and placing them next to Ragfridr's arm on the table.

"You used to love flying when you were little."

"I don't remember."

"You did. Your first word was 'fly.'" Hiccup dug in one of the cups and pulled out some screws and nails. "Dragons aren't that scary, once you get to know them." Hiccup waited for Ragfridr to respond, but she didn't. "Honey, please, can't you talk to me?" She said nothing, then Ragfridr burst in to tears.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I know you get upset with me when I do stuff like this, but I don't like dragons. They have all those teeth and breath fire and you never know if they'll turn on you."

"Ragfridr, our dragons are tame. They'd never hurt you, or anyone in the village."

"But what about the wild ones? Or the one that you lost your leg to? How many Vikings did that thing kill? How many dragons did it eat? Dragons will always be the wild creatures they were born to be." Ragfridr hiccupped and gulped for air as she started down her father. Her face had gone red from crying and her lashes were clumped together with saltwater. Hiccup sighed and took Ragfridr in her arms, stroking her hair. She buried her face in his shirt.

"Do you remember what I used to tell you when you would have nightmares?"

"I'm safe as long as I'm in your arms," her voice was muffled and weak.

"Yes, and that' still true. I'll never let a dragon hurt you, even when you become a strong Viking lady, like your mother. Just stay in my arms for now, and tomorrow, you'll be braver." Hiccup rocked Ragfridr and she continued to sniffle, blowing her nose in her sleeve. After awhile she quieted down and wiped her tears. Hiccup sat her back on her chair and grinned at her. "How about we make a model of that catapult."

"But my design isn't finished."

"We'll improvise. We both know what we want it to do, so let's just go off that." Slowly, Ragfridr's face turned from an upset frown to an excited face, willing to take the challenge.

"You got it. One improvised modified Roman catapult coming up."

Father and daughter began working on the model. Hiccup left Ragfridr to build the base, while he worked on the metal bits. He kept having to go into the forge to modify the pieces he had laying around. Ragfridr was fastening the frame together with short nails and then wrapped all the joints tightly with leather cords. After that was all secure and could not possibly fall apart, she began to construct the actual catapult part. Hiccup came back with the nuts and bolts and the two's hands moved skillfully together.

In little less than an hour, chief and girl had built a handsome model, sketching it down as they went, writing out short notes and making sure the detail was correct. It certainly looked like a catapult, but would it work?

"All right, this looks pretty good. The tension will be a bit weaker since it doesn't have weight like it would if it was larger. But let's just put a little rock in the basket and see what happens." Hiccup handed Ragfridr a pebble and set the tension. He gestured to his daughter to do the honors. Excited, Ragfridr pulled the lever and expected a glorious show.

At first, nothing happened, then all of a sudden, the contraption lurched, propelling itself forward and brought the basket up and smashed into the table.

Ragfridr stared at her destroyed catapult, disappointed it didn't work.

"Don't feel too bad, sweetie, some of mine didn't work either." Hiccup kissed Ragfridr's cheek then picked up the broken model.

"No! I can fix it." Ragfridr took it from her father's hand and set it back on the table. "The tension wasn't right and the frame could also be wrong. Maybe a counter weight would make it better." Hiccup chuckled and ruffled his daughter's hair.

"Listen to you, you sound just like me when I was younger." Ragfridr smiled at Hiccup.

"I am your daughter."

"Don't I know it." Hiccup picked her up and swung her a bit before setting her on his shoulders. "Let's go get some fresh air." Hiccup and Ragfridr left the back room and the forge, where Ari and Spitlout were cleaning up for the day.

"Hey pipsqueak, going for a walk?"

"Jealous?"

"Of course." Ari winked at his little sister. There were some times when he was nice to her.

The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, about three hands away from the sea. Berk was always beautiful at this time of day.

"I've been around the world many times," Hiccup said, talking more so to himself than to Ragfridr. "I've seen exotic lands, fought daring battles, discovered new dragons, made vicious enemies, but at the end of the day, Berk is the only place I want to be."

"Me too."

"But you've never been anywhere but Berk."

"Exactly, there's no better place to be." Hiccup and Ragfridr just stood there, gazing at the sea, Hiccup remembering all the lands he'd seen and Ragfridr dreaming of all the lands she'd one day see. Neither noticed Astrid coming up behind them.

"Hiccup?" He turned around.

"Mom!" Ragfridr spread her arms and jumped from her father's shoulders into her mother's arms.

"Ragfridr, that's dangerous."

"But you caught me." Astrid shook her head. Hiccup only grinned at her and kissed her cheek.

"Hiccup, the others are back. They're waiting for you in the mead hall."

"Alright." Astrid set Ragfridr down.

"What's in the mead hall?" she asked.

"Oh, your father and I are having a meeting with the others and the elders."

"About what?"

"Adult stuff. Now go on home. I made dinner for you are your brother. Valdis will be over later to send you to bed." It took everything in Ragfridr not to blanch.

"But I want to stay at the workshop. I have to fix Dad's and mine model."

"Ragfridr-"

"Oh, let her stay. She's old enough to be on her own."

"In a place with motel steel, razor sharp blades and lots of time to herself? I don't think so."

"I promise to only stay in the back room." Ragfridr put her hand together and grew her eyes to saucers. She knew her mother had no heart to resist eyes like hers.

"Oh, fine, but I want you in the house and in bed an hour after sunset."

"Three hours."

"One"

"Two."

"Hour and a half." Ragfridr thought.

"Deal." Astrid bent down and kissed her on the head to seal the deal.

"I love you, be good, my little inventor." Astrid took Hiccup's arm and the two started up to the mead hall, waving to their daughter and she waved back.

If only they knew it would be a very long time before they saw their daughter again.


	3. Chapter 3

How to Trust a Dragon

Night of the Broken Truce

Hiccup sat at the head of the table. Astrid sat at his right and Stoick on his left. He and the elders were listening to the other's explanation as to what they found.

"Well, Hiccup, you were right. There is something funny in the air," Fishlegs was saying. "While we were out on the boat, my hair stood on end."

"Metaphorically? Like there's something foreboding in the air," Astrid asked.

"No, I mean my hair literally stood on end." Fishlegs took his helmet off and pulled a piece of hair straight out.

"He looked like a Nadder's tail," Tuff chided.

"So did you," Ruff said out of the side of her mouth.

"Well what's that supposed to mean?" Stoick turned to his son.

"Snotlout? What did you find?" Hiccup had sent Snotlout up into the sky on Hookfang. He held up an odd looking instrument that, to anyone today would recognize it as a weather vane.

"Well, this thing didn't spin like there was wind, but the air smelled like a storm was coming. And it was charged with lightening. Hookfang and I went through a cloud and lighting ran down my arm."

"It all seems a little unnatural," Gobber said.

"Thor is angry," suggested Phlegma.

"No, I think it's something else." Hiccup contemplated what could cause such static in the air. He had a very good guess, but he didn't want to believe it. It would only upset the tribe and prove that Ragfridr was right.

"What do you think it is, Hiccup?" Stoick waited patiently for his son to respond. Hiccup closed his eyes, weighing the pros and cons of voicing his thoughts. He had to be tactful about this; the wrong phrase could be detrimental and cause panic, just like in the old days.

"Well, these are the things I don't think it is."

It had grown very dark in the shop. Ragfridr lit candles around the table and continued her design. She and her father's idea for a new catapult, based on the ones used by the Romans, was flawed at some point. What were they doing wrong?

_A counter weight would throw it farther. Of course, the tension must be greater, but with the right physics, even I could load it._

Ragfridr loved the sound of the charcoal gliding across the parchment. She was so focused on her work that she didn't hear Ruffnut come in.

"Ragfridr?"

"Ah! Ruffnut! You scared me."

"Sorry. Your dad is still in council. He asked me to get you to bed."

"But, I'm working."

"On what?" Ragfridr brought a candle closer to the draft. Ruffnut leaned over her, her thick knotted braid bumping against Ragfridr's back. "What is that?"

"It's a catapult that has had a significant amount of weight and tension put on one end to create a greater force behind the object being thrown."

"Yeah, I don't understand that. Most of the things that come out of your mouth or your dad's I really don't get." Ragfridr laughed and returned to her draft. Ruff cleared her throat. Ragfridr looked up from her work, waiting respectfully for Ruffnut to speak. "Was I right in hearing my daughter's screech this morning?"

"Oh…"

"What happened?" Ruffnut leaned on the table, placing one hand at her hip so that her body was angled. Ragfridr gazed at Ruffnut with an apologetic expression.

"Valknut," she said simply. "Did Lugnut not mention this to you?"

"Oh Thor," Ruff swore under her breath. "That niece of mine. She's a true Thornston, but… I'll speak to Tuffnut about it, not that he ever listens. He's the older one, of course. He should disciple her more." She sighed. "She's just like her father." Ruffnut pulled a seat out and sat down, crossing her legs and placing her elbow on the table. "In every aspect, she's just like him, only a little tougher. My brother was never one for pain." Ruffnut grinned at Ragfridr and she grinned back. "In fact, all of you are just like your dads. Now if you flew a Night Fury, you'd be just like your dad." Ragfridr blushed and pivoted away. "I can only image what Fate has in store for you and your friends."

Ruffnut was silent for awhile, gazing up into the rafters, her face expressionless.

Ragfridr thought that, next to her mother, Ruffnut was one of the prettiest women in Berk. She was tall and strong and had the most gorgeous blonde hair. She had scars, she knew, but none of that deferred her beauty. Ragfridr often imagined that Valkyries must look like Ruffnut.

"Well," she suddenly said, standing up quickly, "it's late, and little lady Vikings should be in bed."

"Can I please stay here a little longer? I'm almost finished." Ragfridr put her hands together and opened her eyes as wide as she could, mimicking Toothless when he wanted more fish.

"Nope, come on." Ruffnut put her hand out, intending for Ragfridr to take it. "I'm not going to let your parents get mad at me. The last thing I need is the fury of Astrid." Ruffnut shuddered.

With a great sigh, Ragfridr set her pencil down and blew out the candles. She didn't take Ruff's hand, but Ruff did place it on her shoulder. She led the small girl out of the forge and into the black night.

Something was off. A reek hung in the air, sneaking into the nostrils of the two. Ragfridr wrinkled her nose, but battle seasoned Ruffnut opened her ears and glanced from side to side. She moved Ragfridr behind her back, pulling her cloak around her.

"Stay quiet," she said, as she drew her sword. Ragfridr peeked from inside the cloak and searched the skies and sea. She saw nothing, but there was a stillness in the air, like the clam before a storm, and the smell. It was the most putrid odor Ragfridr had ever smelled. Its stench could be likened to that of a thousand bodies, rotting in a pile of animal and human refuse with rotten vegetables and fish chum thrown on. Ragfridr was becoming sick and her knees shook.

Without warning, Ruffnut grabbed Ragfridr by the arm and literally threw her into the doorway of the workshop. At the moment she had let go, a great form swooped down at Ruffnut. She was knocked to the ground, her sword slipping out of her hand. She quickly got to her feet and pulled a horn form her belt. She took a deep breath and blew with all her might. The deep horn was joined by an ear splitting screech. Ragfridr covered her ears, falling to her knees.

_I didn't know anything could screech louder than Lina._

The sound stopped, but the horn still sounded. From her spot in the forge (she had landed rather uncomfortably on a pile of baskets and armor) Ragfridr could see the village beginning to light up. Shouts of Viking men and women mixed with the roars of the village dragons. She saw villagers already taking to the skies. Ragfridr said a pray to Woden, before picking herself up and running into the village.

She scanned for Ruffnut and saw her waiting a ways away for her brother to land their Zippleback. She also saw Valknut running towards her father.

"Valknut, no!" he shouted. "Get back inside!" Valknut stopped short, taken a back that her father had told her no.

Ruffnut climbed on and the dragon thrust itself up. Ragfridr followed them and saw Fishlegs fall in line with them riding Meatlug, followed by Snotlout on Hookfang. She looked for her parents, but could not see them.

_They must still be at the mead hall._

Without another thought, Ragfridr bolted up the village roads intent on finding her parents. On the way she passed Viking after Viking, all geared for battle and all yelling at her to get inside.

Ragfridr hadn't realized it, but Valknut had noticed her and was chasing after her. She caught up with her quickly.

"Ragfridr! What's happening?" She stopped, spinning on her heels.

"I don't know, but it must be dragons, wild dragons." Ragfridr hadn't actually thought this, but suddenly realizing it and saying it left her mouth dry.

"What is that stench? It smells like dead everything."

"I don't know that either. I'm going to find my parents." Once again, she took to running up the path, Valknut still following her. On the way, they were joined by Lina and Axelle.

"What is happening? Meatlug just suddenly flew away."

"Yeah, my brothers just left. Don't know what they can do. They're so inexperienced."

"Oh, I hope Ari, didn't go out too."

Ragfridr needn't worry. As she and her friends came up the stairs she saw Ari along with her parents, their dragons and the village elders Stoick, Gobber, Spitelout and Phlemga. The four girls were noticed immediately.

"Ragfridr! Get inside, you three as well. This is no place for children." Ragfridr paid no attention to her mother.

"Dad," she panted, "what's happening?"

"I'd like to know that. It has to be dragons." So Ragfridr had come to the same conclusion as her father. Her knees shook and she wanted to collapse, but she didn't. Just then, Snotlout flew over head and landed his dragon. He came running up to everyone.

"Axelle, what are you doing out? Ah, no time for that… Hiccup! It's definitely dragons, but we're not sure what species."

"Did you get a look at them?"

"One I think is a worm type and the other must be a wyvern. It had nasty looking spikes running down its back. I've never seen anything like it."

"I think I might know. It sounds like-"

A great rattling sound shook the air. It felt as if a giant was taking a large gulp of air. The breath of every creature in the vicinity of Berk was ripped from their lungs. After what seemed like an eternity of breathlessness, the rattling stopped, leaving the effected panting. Many fell to their knees, wide eyed and sweating. Ragfridr had almost collapsed.

"What – what was that?" Valknut puffed, pushing herself up from the ground.

"I think – I was right – in my assumption. That could have only been-" Once again, Hiccup was cut off, but this time, by the ear splitting screech. This time, Ragfridr actually looked to the skies, searching for what could possibly make such a ghastly shriek. She saw it, and wished she hadn't.

Ragfridr had read the revised Book of Dragons enough times to recognize every dragon known to Vikings. Flying high above Berk was the ominous shape of a dragon she had hoped she would never meet: the Skrill.

The Skrill was one of the most fearsome and mysterious of all dragons. It was a solitary creature that could shoot liquid lightning from its massive jaws. It had large eyes that were perfect for seeing far off prey and had horribly long talons to snatch its decided meal up.

"A Skrill!" shrieked Astrid. "I never seen one before."

"Hiccup, I thought those only appeared in lighting storms. What in all of Midgard is one doing here?" Snotlout shouted, panic in his voice.

"Get inside!" Hiccup shouted at the children. The girls were lead off by the elders, Axelle being taken away by her grandfather and Ragfridr by hers. She turned her head as she was led away. Ari was getting on Bladepoint, but Astrid and Hiccup stopped him.

"No, you get inside too."

"I'm not a child, Dad."

"You've never dealt with dragons before. Get inside with your sister."

"How can I get experience with dragons if I never fight them?"

"I'm not having this argument, Ari." Hiccup was shouting at the top of his lungs and was not paying attention to his surroundings.

There was a shift in the air and for some reason, Ragfridr looked up.

The Skrill had changed the direction it was flying, turning on a very small angle and looked as if it was diving. At first, Ragfridr thought it was avoiding a threat to itself in the air, but then she saw it put out its talons. No one seemed to notice how rapid the Skill's descent was. Quickly, she put two and two together and looked to where it was going to attack.

Right where her father was.

With an amazing amount of sudden strength, Ragfridr broke free of Stoick's grasp and ran for her father.

"Nooooo!"

Everything happened so slowly it seemed. Ragfridr leapt up in the air, jumping higher than she ever had before. She angled herself to shelter her father from the Skrill's attack. Hiccup turned his head and realized what was happening.

"Noooo!" Hiccup put his arms up to catch Ragfridr, but it was too late.

The Skrill was on top of them and wrapped its talons around Ragfridr's middle. She slipped from her father's fingers and left him, her mother, her brother and grandfather on the ground.

At first it was odd; the ground was slowly becoming farther away, her family becoming smaller. Then her mind realized what was happening.

She wasn't sure if she screamed, but she probably did, because later, her throat hurt.

Hiccup and Astrid wasted no time, jumping on the backs of Toothless and Stormfly, wasting only a second to tell Ari to stay on the ground as he climbed on to Bladepoint. They took to the skies and chased after the dragon. Snotlout got on Hookfang's back and chased after the family

During the pursuit, Fishlegs and the twins joined the other's seeing what the Skrill had caught.

"What's the plan, Hiccup?" Tuffnut shouted across the way.

"Plan? Save my daughter!" Hiccup had Toothless speed up, putting less space between them and their quarry.

"Uh, Hiccup, there's something you should know. The other dragon is-"

"Not now Fishlegs!" Hiccup's mind was racing, with absolutely nothing passing through it, except the thought of saving his only daughter.

The Skrill was heading out to sea, which was bad: a Skrill always flew higher when it flew above water. The dragon took no new course; it was heading away from land. That meant its lair was farther away from the island. However, if it got too far out, it would be even more difficult to save Ragfridr than it was proving to be at the moment.

The Viking leaders were so intent on the Skrill and the screaming Ragfridr that they didn't notice the rest of the girls on the ground chasing after the dragons.

Axelle, Lina and Valknut had also broken free of the elders' grasp in the confusion that ensued when Ragfridr was caught.

"That ugly lump of scales is heading out to sea!"

"We'll never save Ragfridr now!"

"Stop being so whiny, droopy face! We'll just stop it!"

"How do you plan to do that, hair monster?"

"We'll hitch a ride!"

Somehow, the girls had managed to get ahead of the Skrill and Valknut started to climb an unoccupied catapult. She climbed quickly and the other girls followed. She got into position, hunched over with a determined face.

"Uh, Valknut just what are you planning?" Axelle looked worriedly from Valknut to the Skrill racing towards them. Just as it was passing over, Valknut grabbed Ragfridr's feet and was lifted off of hers. With a shriek, Lina took hold of Valknut, but the dragon was still stronger. Lina was quickly being dragged away. Panicked, Axelle pounced after Lina, just as her purchase on the ground gave out. The sudden drop of weight knocked the dragon of kilter.

Despite the fact that Skrills are very scary, powerful dragons, they are rather small. They're just a little taller than a full grown man, (I mean a normal sized man, not a Viking sized man) and because of this, they could not handle much weight, even if that weight were four young girls.

The tug at her boots silenced Ragfridr's screams. But only for a few seconds.

"What are you idiots doing?"

"What does it look like? Saving your sorry excuse for a Viking butt!"

"Valknut, this is no time for insults!" scolded Lina.

"This is some plan, Valknut. Now we can all die!"

Valknut and Axelle continued to argue, even in the face of danger, so it wasn't any surprise that Valknut didn't realize that she pulling Ragfridr's boots off. Very slowly, the three girls clinging to their friend began to slip off.

"Yeah, well I didn't see you coming up with a plan, eyebrow troll!"

Slip.

"Eyebrow troll? That's the worst insult you've ever given. What's the matter, losing your touch?

Slip.

"As if!"

"Guys…" Ragfridr felt her foot being pulled.

"Can you to stop arguing for two seconds and realize we are all about to die!"

Slip.

"Guys…"

"Why don't you mind your own business, Gronckle lover."

"You _are _losing your touch!"

Slip.

"I said 'as if'!"

"GUYS!"

"WHAT?"

Drop.

Ragfridr watched in horror as her three best friends in the whole world fell towards the ocean. She knew at this height, there was no chance of surviving. She tried to call their names, but her voice caught. The three tumbled in the air, screaming in terror, tears welling in their eyes. They knew this was their end. Ragfridr shut her eyes as the girls were about to hit the water.

By a miracle of the gods, Lina, Valknut and Axelle were spared an early death. Snotlout, on Hookfang, had steered his dragon to roll in the air and catch the girls with her stomach. She then tossed them in the air and let them land on her back.

"Axelle, we will discuss this later!"

"It was Valknut's idea!"

"I said later!" In front of her, Valknut was smirking.

"You got in trouble," she taunted.

"Don't look now, but your dad's face is going to explode." Valknut turned in time to see her father and aunt fly by. Tuffnut's glared could have melted the skin right off of a Skullion. Valknut sunk behind her cousin for protection from her father's gaze.

"Mr. Snotlout," Lina cried, pointing ahead of her, "the dragon is losing its grip on Ragfridr!" All the Vikings' heads turned to the east. The Skrill's grip on Ragfridr's body had been compromised and the creature's claws had caught on her shirt. Ragfridr was dropping lower and lower, her shirt slowly ripping. The beast kept flying higher and higher, stumbling in the air as it went.

"Now's our chance. Let's go, Toothless." Hiccup pressed himself against his dragon's back and clicked the tail. Toothless spread his wings and beat at the air, gaining altitude with every pump. They were almost in reach of Ragfridr's foot. "Ragfridr, reach for my hand!" In an act of desperation, Hiccup locked the prosthetic in place (a new feature) and stood up onto Toothless' shoulders and extended his hand to his daughter. Ragfridr spread her hand wide; stretching her arm as far as it would go.

"Daddy, I can't reach," Ragfridr eyes were filled with terror as she cried. She was as white as sheep's wool.

"Toothless, I need you get me closer, bud." Carefully, so not to disrupt Hiccup's footing, Toothless flapped closer. Hiccup stood as far over the edge of Toothless' body as he dared. Ragfridr's hand was almost in reach. The tips of their finger brushed. "That's right, I've got you. Just a little farther."

RIP.

In one swift second, Ragfridr's shirt, shredded by the claws of the Skrill, tore. She dropped from her father's grasp, tumbleing head over heel, the sky and sea becoming one blur.

_I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die._

Hiccup lost no time to seat himself back into the saddle. He clicked the tail one more time and he and Toothless sped after the small girl. They were going so fast, water was streaming from his eyes. His helmet flew off and his fur cloak flapped in the wind. Hair whipped at his cheeks.

_Why aren't I getting closer?_ Ragfridr was falling closer and closer to the sea. If Hiccup didn't catch her, she would… no, Hiccup had to save her. He was not going to let his only daughter die.

Ragfridr was now just a few feet from the water. Hiccup wasn't going to make it.

Ragfridr was going to die.

The horrible screeching roar reverberated around the craggy rocks and cliffs of Berk, upsetting roosting dragons and birds and causing some bits of stone to fall from their holds. A long shadow sped in front of Hiccup and Toothless, snatching up Ragfridr and beating at the air to gain altitude.

Hiccup quickly pulled at Toothless' saddle just before the two hit the water. They fell back into the sky and beheld what had taken hold of Ragfridr. In the moonlight, the Vikings could make out the clear outline of a dragon that was really out of its element, high above the ocean: a Whispering Death.

"What? That's impossible," shouted Fishlegs. "Whispering Deaths can't fly."

"Apparently they can," said Ruff in disbelief.

"They live underground. They eat rocks. What in Odin's tangled leg hair is one doing above ground?" Tuff asked the question everyone was wondering.

Whispering Deaths were fairly docile dragons, despite all their whirling teeth. As long someone brushed their teeth, they will love that person forever. They usually did not leave their tunnels and seeing one above ground, and flying, was almost unheard of.

"Those dragons have been trained. They would never do this on their own." Hiccup couldn't think of anyone who would take those two dragons and train them.

They continued the chase; they were almost out of the Bay of Berk. The Whispering Death was staying on some sort of course, flying straight south. Then suddenly it reared up and pointed itself west, southwest. Hiccup noticed Ragfridr hanging from the dragon's mouth, limp as a boned fish. She had passed out. She swung to and fro; her left leg caught firmly in the jaws of the Whispering Death. Her blood streamed from its mouth and ran down its jaw.

Hiccup broke free from the others and once again pushed Toothless to catch the dragon and save his daughter. But he didn't have to urge, Toothless wanted to save Ragfridr as much as Hiccup did. She was family, practically his own dragonet.

The Whispering Death was slow; it was highly apparent that the creature was not used to its wings, it kept tilting to one side and was constantly readjusting its position. Hiccup and Toothless were catching up to the dragon and Ragfridr.

_It'll be okay, honey. Daddy's coming._

Hiccup was so intent on the dragon that he did not take time to wonder where the Skrill had flown off to. But if the reader is wondering, I'll tell you.

The Skrill had flown high, high into the sky and was soaring through the clouds. It did not want to go back 'home,' but it had to. Master had made him come home before and he would do it again and it was just easier to obey. The clouds cleared from underneath the Skrill and he saw the small band of humans and dragons chasing after the other dragon and he also saw the man on the black dragon in the lead. That wouldn't do. Master didn't want people following. He had to fix it, to protect himself. The Skrill folded in his wings and dive-bombed at the dragon and his human.

Neither Hiccup nor Toothless felt the presence of the Skrill as it sped closer and closer. Astrid was the first to notice it.

"Hiccup!" was all she could get out. Hiccup turned his head and finally saw the Skrill. He couldn't maneuver Toothless fast enough to avoid impact. The Skrill crashed its body into Toothless', knocking Hiccup out of his saddle and speed towards a watery death. Without Hiccup, Toothless couldn't fly and he plummeted as well. Torn between her daughter and her husband, Astrid ordered the others save Ragfridr as she and Stormfly dropped altitude with Snotlout following suit.

The Skrill stayed between The Whispering Death and the others, spraying its liquid lighting at them. They couldn't get past.

"Stupid dragon, MOVE!" Tuff flung his spear at the beast. Before it was even five feet to its chest, the Skrill knocked the spear away with tail.

"Well, that didn't work. Decoy plan!" Ruff and Tuff split from the others and started to irritate the Skrill so that it would follow and attack them. Seeing his chance, Fishlegs buzzed on by the Skrill on Meatlug. But he wouldn't even get close to the Whispering Death. The Skrill noticed his advancement and cut him and Meatlug off. It spewed its lighting again, in all directions, singeing the air.

Meanwhile, Astrid and Snotlout were flocking after Hiccup, who was madly trying to get back on the saddle in the air. He and Toothless had free fallen like this before, but never when they were desperate. All his fingers kept gripping was the cold north air.

_Why can't I grab the saddle!_

Toothless was doing his best for his human: he flapped his wings, he reached for Hiccup, he even swung his tail out for him, but to no avail. The sea was getting dangerously close and Toothless knew Hiccup would not survive hitting it. But he would.

With great determination, Toothless beat his wings in one more powerful stroke and got himself in reaching distance of Hiccup. Just like when he had saved his life all those years ago, Toothless wrapped his legs around his human and took the full brunt of impact.

"HICCUP!" Astrid hovered on her Nadder, just above the water. Her eyes scanned for any bit of movement beneath the waves, but it was so dark and her mind was too panic stricken.

Suddenly, Toothless' head broke the water and he quickly lifted Hiccup's head up.

"Toothless," Astrid called. She reached her arms down. Toothless tossed his human into her arms, but stayed in the water. He had to go find Hiccup's helmet. Again.

Hiccup was unconscious, a purple bruise forming on his hair line. He was breathing and Astrid sighed in relief.

"Astrid!" Snotlout brought her attention once again to the skies, where the twins' and Fishlegs' attempts to rescue Ragfridr were failing.

The Skrill was making itself a difficult obstacle to pass. It seemed to have an unlimited amount of fire power. It kept spewing its lighting fire. Fishlegs and the twins were forced to stay back. Suddenly, there was a break in the dragon's defense and Fishlegs sped past. But he weren't fast enough. The Skrill dived and came up underneath Fishlegs, knocking his Gronckle of balance.

"I've lost power on the Gronckle! Honey, do something!" Fishlegs went down as Ruff wrestled with herself; save her husband or save Ragfridr?

Fishlegs and Meatlug met the water and literally skipped to a stop, before sinking. Snotlout flew above Fishlegs and helped him out of the water. Their heads turned once more to the sky.

It turns out Ruff didn't need to make a decision. The Skrill had turned severely aggressive and the Zippleback, pulled back, not wanting to involve itself. Though, there was really nothing anyone of them could have done; the Whispering Death was now almost a speck on the horizon.

Ragfridr was gone.

The Heroes flew back to Berk, heart-broken that they were unable to save Ragfridr. But they had hope. Hiccup said those were trained dragons, which meant Ragfridr was more than likely going to someone one, instead of a something. Still, Astrid had lost her daughter. She bit back tears, telling herself Vikings don't cry, but she knew she was going to when she told Hiccup when he woke up.

Hiccup. The bump to his head was now not only purple, but yellow and blue. Astrid feared if her husband was even going to be alright. She prayed to Woden he would be.

When they landed in Berk with an injured chief and without Ragfridr, the villagers needed no explanation. They said nothing as they bowed their heads.


	4. Chapter 4

How to Trust a Dragon

The Rescue Plan

When Ari saw his father being carried to the house by Fishlegs, he was immediately distressed.

"Mother! Mother, what happened? What happened to Dad? And where's Rags? Where is she?" Bit her lip. She looked right past Ari's face, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"She's gone. We couldn't- we couldn't stop the dragons." Astrid's voice cracked ever so slightly. Ari felt like Fenrir had ripped out his heart.

"What? Then go after her! Those dragons will kill her! She's terrified of dragons!"

"Ari, we can't right now. Your father is our main concern."

"Then send ships, dragons after her. I'll go!" He turned on his heel. Astrid grabbed his arm and spun him around.

"No! I forbid you to leave Berk. I'm not going to lose both of my children in the same day." Astrid leaned in closer. "Please, Ari, just do as I say. It's killing me not being able to go after her. As soon as your father wakes up, we'll rescue her." Astrid put her hand on her son's face before walking away.

Ari had fallen into Niefelheim. His sister couldn't be gone, she just couldn't be. It had to be a dream.

The other's walked up to him. Ari looked at them as if he didn't see them.

"She's gonna be okay," he said to himself. "She's tough, right?" Tears fell from Ari's eyes. He quickly wiped them away and looked at the ground. "She's going to be…" Butternut put her arms around him and didn't let go.

"Ragfridr is a Haddock. She'll be better than okay." Spitlout tried to sound reassuring, but it was hard. He loved Ragfridr as much as Ari did.

"Why don't we go to the mead hall? I'm sure you'll feel better once you eat something," Butternut said to Ari. She took his hand and led him away. The others followed, but Bloodlout stayed behind with Axelle, Lina and Valknut. He turned to Axelle. He looked into her face and suddenly, seized her and held her close to him.

"You're my only sister," he whispered into her ear. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you." A little confused, Axelle patted her brother's back. She knew he was also thinking about Ragfridr. Axelle was the only one Bloodlout would confide in when it came to his crush on Ragfridr. She knew that what me meant to say was, 'I've lost Ragfridr.'

"It'll be alright. Ragfridr will be home before you can say 'half past Thor'sday and a troll stole my socks." Bloodlout gave a chuckle, then released his sister and wandered off into the village to be alone.

Lina was sniffling.

"Ragfridr is gone. We'll never see her again." She blew her nose on her arm wrappings. Valknut said nothing. Deep down, she felt responsible; maybe if she hadn't tried to be a hero, Ragfridr would be safe. Axelle looked at the faces of her friends.

"Hey, did you guys see what direction those dragons flew off to?" Lina and Valknut looked up, as if they were noticing Axelle for the first time.

"Southwest?" Lina said cautiously.

"Exactly. Hiccup said those were trained dragons, which means they were flying back to their master."

"Where are you going with this?" asked Valknut. Her mind worked slower than frozen yaknog.

"Ragfridr is going to need rescuing." Valknut and Lina continued to stare at her. "Ugh, why am I the only one who thinks around here. Right now, Hiccup is our parents' main concern. They'll think Ragfridr will be safe if she's going to a "someone", but whoever sent those dragons is probably not a nice person. Quite frankly, I don't like what that adds up to." Axelle paused to let her explanation sink in. "So go get your weapons and hop on your dragons."

"WHAT?"

"YES!"

"NO! Axelle, we can't. Our parents-"

"Won't notice. They'll be focused on Hiccup."

"Our siblings?"

"Go home, go into your room and sneak out."

"Oh, gods…"

"Come on, Lina, haven't you ever wanted to be a hero? Besides, Ragfridr got hurt. She'll need medical attention." Valknut tapped Lina's inner healer. She was the only person in all of Berk, besides her father, who had the proper training as a healer. She chewed on her lip and twiddled her hair.

"Oh, fine. But we get there, get Ragfridr, get out and get back home."

"That's what I was planning," Axelle grinned at her. "So, Lina, you get some food and medicine, Valknut, you get weapons."

"Axes, swords, hammers, maces-"

"Three axes are fine, and I'll get our dragons. And we'll meet at the clearing in the forest." The two other girls nodded their heads. They walked as normally as possible through the village, faking tears in their eyes to hide their thoughts.

Ragfridr knew something was wrong and that she couldn't possibly be in her bed, asleep. First of all, she wasn't cold; second of all, she hurt. Maybe she got knocked over by Toothless and the impact had made her unconscious. But wouldn't she have been moved to her bed? The floor was hard and did she hear the crashing of waves? She did not want to open her eyes, but she did, or at least tried to. Her lashes were caked with sea-salt and she had to pull the bits off to open them.

Well, she wasn't in her room. Instead of seeing the rafters of her home, she saw a rocky ceiling of black stone. The stalactites had been chipped away, leaving an almost smooth surface. Ragfridr was surrounded on three sides by nothing but rock, except for the fourth wall, which was no wall at all. A set of iron bars locked Ragfridr into a rather cliché prison cell.

Ragfridr didn't even have time to think, before a shadowy figure moved and a greasy voice spoke.

"Finally awake, little Haddock?" The voice was male and dripped with years of practiced villainy. Ragfridr thought it best to not answer. Her parents did always tell her to not talk to strangers. "What's the matter, lose your tongue?" The man slithered out of the shadows, stooped and limping with a _thump-clunk, thump-clunk_. A heavy cloak draped across his shoulders and the hood was pulled far over his face, so Ragfridr saw no distinguishing features of the man. He crept right up the bars and from deep inside the hood, Ragfridr could see one glowing eye.

"You certainly are a _little_ Haddock, course, your father always was."

"My father?"

"Yes, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and I are old acquaintances," the man snarled, spitting out the alliteration of her father's name. "He is the cause for quite a few, mis-happenings in my life." The man was breathing through his mouth and spewing very foul breath into Ragfridr's face. "Maybe he's mentioned me. Have you ever heard of ALVIN THE TREACHEROUS?" The man pulled his hood back with a flourish to reveal, the most hideous grinning face even a mother wouldn't love.

The man was missing quite a few body parts. First of all, he had no hair; head, brow and eyelids were as bare as a frozen tundra. Then there was the matter of his face: he wore an eye patch over his right eye, his left ear was nowhere to be seen and instead of a nose of flesh, he had a nose of gold. Great scars riddled his muscular body, as did tattoos of evil serpents, flicking their tongues in a malicious manner. He had a hook for a right hand and his left leg was a stump of carved ivory. He put his one hand on the bars and Ragfridr saw he was missing his two end fingers

"I take it your stunned silence means terror is coursing through your veins as you behold my magnificently terrifying form."

"No… I'm just surprised by how… patch-worked you are."

"My condition," he corrected her, "was all caused by your father. I thought you would know that. I'm a rather difficult person to simply forget."

"My dad has never mentioned you."

"WHAT! You mean to tell me that little microscopic Viking has the audacity to ruin my life time and time again and never even told his own daughter about me?"

"Sir, using 'little' and 'microscopic' in the same sentence like that is redundant."

"Gah! You have the same cheek as your father." The strange man reached his hand into the prison, grabbing hold of Ragfridr's shirt and dragged her to him.

Pain shot through her leg.

"AH!" The man let go at Ragfridr's sudden outburst. She curled into a ball of heaving pain as she clutched her leg.

"Ah, yes, my pets were a little rough. But you should be grateful; I bandaged you up, but only a little. I need you alive just until your father gets here."

"What… do you… mean?" Ragfridr puffed out between the searing.

"Well, I sent my pets to that miserable little island of Berk to capture your father and bring him so I could finally kill him. But first, I was going to torture him, starting with cutting off his hand, then shaving all the hair from his body Then I was going to pluck his eye from his socket and cut his leg off! Wait, he's already missing a leg, no matter! And then I was going to have great pleasure cutting his nose off and his ear and finally his fingers before running my Storm Blade though his heart and FINALLY RIDDING MY LIFE OF HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD! But, I got you instead. Which was, if not, a pleasant surprise. I guess one Haddock smells like any other Haddock to a dragon. They mistook your sent for your father's. I have to admit you do damper my other plan, but my brilliant brain was able to concoct another one. I hold you hostage, wait for your dear daddy to come and rescue you and then capture him, torture him and kill him. And you too, of course, can't have more little Haddocks out in the world to foil my future plans."

"I have an older brother."

"What? Curses. Then I'll just raid Berk and kill him too, and everyone else for that matter. Ah, nothing can stop my euphoric attitude. Now, why don't you just sit tight while I go get your meal for the day. Can't have you dying before your father gets here."

"Just one more thing sir, how do you know Hiccup is my father?"

"You're a spitting image of him. Only a Haddock would have hair like that." The man pulled his hood over his head once more and shuffled away.

Well this was a fine bucket of chum. Ragfridr was captured, injured and her father was racing towards his doom. Ragfridr wanted to be saved, but she didn't want her father getting hurt.

"Daddy…" She thought of home, her cold room which she longed to be in, her mother's horrible cooking, her brother's teasing. All of it seemed like an impossible wish. She prayed to the gods to send someone other than her father to rescue her. "If I get back home in one piece, I'll go flying with my dad and Toothless, I promise."

Axelle, Lina and Valknut arrived on a small craggy island in the middle of a cold sea. They landed their dragons on a patch of beach that was more rock than sand.

"What a dump," Valknut said, getting off Acidbreath's head.

"Yeah, but this is the place. You can really smell that stench."

"Yeah," Lina said, holding her nose.

"Do you smell… dead… eels?" Valknut began to sniff at the air. Slowly, her nose took her farther up the rocky beach, the Zippleback following like a loyal puppy. Lina and Axelle sniffed at the air too, but could only smell the putrid odor that was left on Berk.

"How can you smell anything but that stench?" Axelle called after her.

"Shut up, you're breaking my concentration."

"You're smelling."

"I said shut up."

The three girls and two dragons walked into a bit of thick, sharp grass. Lina ran her fingers through the brush and cut one of them. She yelped and immediately put her injured finger in her mouth.

"Good thing we're wearing heaving boots and pants," she said.

"I said shut up!"

"You don't need to think to smell!" Valknut and Axelle glared at each other. Both wanted to continue the argument, but suddenly, Axelle's dragon reared up, terror in its eyes. "Flamehorn?" she said to it. She brought her hand up to Flamehorn's snout, but the dragon snapped at her hand and took to the skies. Panicked, Axelle ran after her dragon, calling his name. Then, the Zippleback began to act strangely too.

Tangerine and Acidbreath were snapping their necks back and creeping down to the shoreline backwards. They shook their heads and were thoroughly frightened by something. Then, it too bound upward and flew after Flamehorn, both dead set on a course back to Berk. The girls chased their dragon's, desperately ordering them back to their sides, but it was all in vain. A spooked dragon will always avoid danger.

The girls looked on after their dragons, their hearts falling deeper than just their stomachs.

"Well this is just a mug of yaknog," Valknut growled.

"What scared them?" Lina was almost on the verge of tears.

"I bet if we go farther in, we'll find out."

"I bet you to clean my axe for the next two weeks that it was eels," Valknut challenged Axelle.

"Deal."

So the girls walked on, up jagged slopes and barren spots and eventually found an opening of a cave, and Valnknut was right. Striped eels was hanging from the ceiling of the mouth of the cave.

"I knew I smelled eel! Well, it's satisfying to know that I was right and that you will be cleaning my axe for the next two weeks," Valknut smirked smugly to Axelle.

"Forget that for one second. These eels are tied up."

"Yeah, so what?"

"So what? This proves this is where Ragfridr was taken. That obviously isn't natural. Plus, this person, knows more about dragons than we thought. Whoever they are, they purposely planned to scare dragons away."

"But why?" Lina's eyes scanned the whole of the ceiling, wracking her brain as to why someone would go to such lengths.

"Perhaps I could shed some light on your question," said a greasy voice behind them. The three girls whipped around, but it was too late.

Hiccup's condition had not improved. He had slept for most of the day and it was now late afternoon. And all this time, his wife and friends had never left his unconscious side. Astrid held Hiccup's hand, praying to all the gods in Vallhala to wake her husband up. As she sat there, she was reminded of the day Hiccup lost his leg, all those years ago. What would he lose this time?

It was killing Astrid to not fly after Ragfridr, her only daughter and her baby. She couldn't send a rescue squad after her; the men needed to protect the village in case the dragons came back and whatever sent those dragons, only Hiccup would know how to deal with it. That was another thing; she and the others couldn't leave either. For the time being, she was chief and the others needed leadership.

She looked into Hiccup's face and stroked his head, careful to avoid the bashyball sized goose egg that was forming under his hair line.

In the late morning, Toothless had returned with his human's helmet, but when he saw the state of his master, he curled up beside the bed, nudging his head under Hiccup's arm. He hadn't moved since.

"Astrid?" Ruffnut put her hand on Astrid's shoulder. She gave a start. "Sorry, I was just wondering if you'd like some soup." She offered a bowl.

"No, I'm not hungry." She looked at everyone else. They all had bowls in their hands, but only stirred it. "Guys," she said to them, "go home. You haven't left here since this morning."

"And we're not gonna leave until Hiccup opens his eyes," Snotlout said defiantly.

"What about your kids?"

"They know where we are," Tuffnut said in retort.

"I'm the doctor here, so I have to stay," Fishlegs told her.

"And I'm staying with my husband." Ruff offered her the bowl of soup again. Astrid shook her head. She was tired.

Just then the door opened. Ari walked in out of the dying light. He looked older than when Astrid had last seen her son. He didn't say anything as he looked at his mother hopefully. She shook her head. Ari's shoulders slumped. Astrid offered him her hand, inviting him to sit next to her. He crossed the room to his mother and knelt down, putting his head in her lap, as if her were a child. Astrid stroked his head and began to hum a traditional Berk lullaby. Quietly, the others let themselves out to eat their soup, or at least try to, outside in the fading light. It was going to be a long night.

Ragfridr was picking at the fish Alvin had brought her to eat. She was pretty sure it was raw and it was looking at her. It obviously blamed her for its misfortune.

"Hey, I'm in the same boat as you," she told the fish, "or net rather." Ragfridr wasn't hungry. She was thinking of her father. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Hiccup's face, relieved he had found his daughter, but then, he fell down dead and Alvin the Treacherous would be grinning at her with too many teeth.

Why did she have to get captured? What had possessed her to throw herself in between Hiccup and a dragon? If only Ari hadn't decided to argue with their father, Hiccup would have been in the skies and able to defend himself.

Ragfridr sighed. She couldn't blame Ari for this. She couldn't even blame herself. Alvin was the one who sent the dragons. He was the instigator in this evil plot. There was no one to hate but him.

Ragfridr heard a low growl coming from outside the bars. She scanned the room, but saw nothing. The growl sounded familiar, but she couldn't think why. The creature growled again and Ragfridr realized the sound was coming from some place higher. She looked upward and sure enough, she saw a pair of large red reptilian eyes looking directly at her from a hole in the wall. Actually, the eyes were looking at the fish.

Ragfridr smiled a bit. It must be a dragon. She dragged herself to the bars and tossed the fish out through the bars. It flopped onto the stone floor with a squishy splat. The eyes grew wider. Quicker than Ragfridr's eye could see, the dragon's tail swished down in a grey blur and flicked the fish up onto the ledge. She heard the bones crunch and then a satisfying gulp. The beast began to purr. Ragfridr giggled. Then she heard the dragon coughing and suddenly, a bit of fish flew from the hole, through the bars and landed right in front of Ragfridr. It was the head, back to stare at her. She looked form the fish, to the eyes, and back again. Did the dragon want her to eat it?

The dragon rowled in expectation. Hesitantly, Ragfridr picked up the fish head and brought it up to her mouth. This reminded her of the story her father told her about when he was befriending Toothless. She was also reminded of the face Hiccup made when he talked about eating the fish. At least it wasn't as bad as yaknog, he had said. Cringing, Ragfridr sunk her teeth into the limp flesh and pulled a bit off. She let it sit in her mouth, resisting the urge to spit it out. It was almost as bad as yaknog. She was afraid to chew it, fearing to unleash more foul juices into her mouth. With great effort she swallowed and put her hand over her mouth to make sure it stayed down. Sick and shuddering, she looked up at the eyes. The pupils were now large and friendly.

From down the hall, Ragfridr could hear multiply voices shouting. The dragon's eyes quickly disappeared. It must have been scared off.

_Maybe it was a Changewing. They like to stay hidden._

Ragfridr could now hear Alvin's voice shouting. She pulled herself beck to the spot where she was sitting and threw the fish head into the corner. And just in time. Alvin came around the bend dragging-

Lina, Axelle and Valknut!

Alvin was fighting the three of them, even as he was holding on to them. He had a hold of Lina and Axelle's hair and both were kicking and swinging the headless axes at his side. Valknut on the other hand, literally, was biting Alvin's arm. He was desperately shaking his arm to get her off.

"Stop biting me!" Valknut gnawed up and down the length of Alvin's arm. Ragfridr saw she was bleeding from three livid scratches across her right eye, nose and mouth.

Alvin reached the prison door. Grumbling and fumbling with keys, he swung open the door and tossed Lina and Axelle in. Valknut, was another story. She was now clawing up his back and began beating at his head with the handle of her broken axe.

"You-little-imp!" Alvin swung at her and finally caught her by her shirt collar. With a triumphant laugh, he threw Valknut into the cell, laughing even harder when she landed on the other two. Valknut scrambled up and put her face up to the bars.

"I bet your mother wanted to throw you away when you were born!"

"Don't you dare talk about my mother!"

"Why, because she did?" Alvin snarled and slipped his hook in between the bars and snatched Valknut's neck with it. He jerked her head forward and with a cruel smirk, brought his sword up to her neck.

"You best keep that tongue of yours in your little head, or someone might accidentally cut it off." Valknut just glowered at him. Then, she spit in his face.

Alvin released her hurriedly as he wiped his face, disgusted. He turned to her.

"Someday, someone is going to kill you for your insolence." She blew raspberries at him. Alvin turned to walk away.

Axelle stood up and rushed to the bars, pushing Valknut out of the way.

"Wait! Just who do you think you are? Why are you holding Ragfridr hostage?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked," he sang. "I am Alvin the Treacherous and I have plotted the most divine of vengeance plans against that wretched Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the man who has ruined my plans time and time again. "

"Interesting. Did he also steal your good looks?" Alvin glared at her.

"Yes." Axelle stared at Alvin in dumbfounded disbelief.

"You are planning to kill him, because he ruined a few plans and he stole your look? You are a petty, petty man." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Shut up. You won't be talking like that for long. Once your precious little Hiccup gets here, I'll kill him and you. So enjoy living while you can. " Alvin shuffled away chuckling to himself.

"Well, he's 'bout as friendly as Terror who got his tail stepped on," Axelle said dryly.

"Ragfridr!" Line rushed to her friend and hugged tightly. "I was so worried I'd never see you again, and then I would be stuck with those two forever. You're the only thing that keeps me sane."

"Wow, thanks Lina. If you're done hurting our feelings, I think Ragfridr would like to breathe."

"Oh, sorry," Lina released Ragfridr.

"It's alright. Oh, Thor, am I glad to see you guys. Even if you did get captured."

"Well, our intention _was_ to rescue you, but now we need rescuing too."

"Forget that for the moment," Valknut said. She sounded funny; she was trying not to move her face too much. "That guy's hook packs a wallop."

"Well, that's what you get for attacking him."

"Shut up, troll butt. I didn't see you doing anything. Lina, you got something for my face?"

"Of course." Lina reached into her vest and took out a little jar. She handed it to Axelle. "You put it on Valknut. I need to look at Ragfridr's leg."

"What? I don't want her touching me." Lina rounded on her cousin.

"You are not going to argue with me on this."

"Fine." Valknut sat down and closed her eyes, waiting for Axelle to put the salve on.

"A little goes a long way. And it will sting a little. You'll probably be left with scars, Valknut."

"Cool."

"Hold still." Axelle righted Valknut's face.

"I am holding still." Axelle took a little bit of the salve on her finger and gently dabbed it on to Valknut's face. Her eyes shot open and she began to scream. "You said it would sting a little!" Her voice cracked and she clutched her face.

"Well, it does. I use it on myself when I get cuts and scraps and it's about as bad as being bitten by a mosquito."

"Are you kidding? It feels like I'm being stung by a be-gillion Venomous Vorpents."

"Oh, really? Maybe I put too much alcohol in this batch."

"Alcohol," Ragfridr asked.

"Yeah, it kills the infection."

"You're not going to use that on my leg, are you?"

"I was." Ragfridr whimpered. "I'm sure your tolerance level for pain is much higher than Valknut's"

"What was that?"

Line started to undo the bandages Alvin had poorly done up. Valknut calmed down again and bit through the pain. She kept telling herself she was going to have some awesome scars.

Once she got the last wrapping off, Lina was absolutely horrified. There were seven sticky and bloody puncture wounds running the length of Ragfridr's leg. The wounds were festering, the blood bubbling with infection. There was also extensive bruising and the leg was broken in four different spots. She set her face and turned to Ragfridr.

"That salve isn't going to be enough." Lina dug into her pouch and produced burdock root, handing it to Ragfridr. "You better start chewing this now."

"Why?" Ragfridr's face was a little pale.

"Cause I need to set your leg, it's broken in four different places and there are seven very large, deep wounds I need to stitch. The anesthesia isn't going to be enough, so start chewing."

"You know how to do all that?" Axelle sounded impressed.

"My dad is the village physician. Axelle are you done with Valknut?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Good. You and her are going to need to hold Ragfridr down."

"WHAT?" All three exclaimed in unison.

"Setting legs hurt," Lina said nonchalantly. "And once I pour the mead on-"

"Mead?" Lina reached into her vest and pulled out a flask.

"The highest proof of mead Berk can produce. Not as good as Gall wine to clean wounds, but it does the job. Ragfridr, is your pain subsiding?"

"A bit."

"Alright, keep chewing. Axelle, pour the mead over my hands. Do it over Ragfridr's leg so that none of it is wasted. Valknut, hold her down." Axelle and Valknut did as they were instructed. As soon as the alcohol fell on Ragfridr's leg, her whole body tensed. A screech ripped from her throat and tears welled in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ragfridr," Lina apologized, "but if I seal the infection in, you'll die. Alright, now, you guys are really going to need to hold her down. I'm going to set your leg. Try to relax."

"Easier said than done," Ragfridr's voice was quiet and strained.

Lina gently placed her hands on Ragfridr's thigh, on the first break. She pressed a little, just to feel how the bone had broken.

_I don't think it splintered. Just a quick push should be right._ She nodded to the girls. They tightened their grip on Ragfridr. "Bit down on that root as hard as you can."

SHOVE.

"AAAHHHH!" Ragfridr was now crying. Her head lolled a bit and her eyes fluttered.

"Ragfridr, you can't fall asleep. I'm going to fix another one."

SHOVE.

"AAAHHHH!"

Every time Lina set a bone, either Valknut or Axelle had to slap Ragfridr's face a little to keep her awake.

"Okay, I'm done. Your leg is all set now."

"Great, can I have my dad?" Ragfridr was beginning to get delusional.

"Okay, time to go sleepy." Lina brought the mead bottle to Ragfridr's mouth and tilted her head back to drink. She sputtered a little, but enough went down. In a few minutes, Ragfridr was snoozing like a content Terror. "The hard part is done." Lina turned to Valknut. "Can you hold the skin together while I sew it up?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"When I get ready to sew the wounds up, you'll need to hold the flaps together." Valknut went a little green. "You'll need to have the mead poured on your hands, so you won't get any infection in her. First, I need to clean each wound."

Lina worked skillfully, pouring the mead onto the wounds and instructing Valknut how to pull the skin together. Both Axelle and Valknut were a little impressed by how Lina had suddenly taken charge. They'd never seen this side of her; usually all she did was cry and whine and hide behind Ragfridr, but here, she was a completely different person. She wasted no time in healing Ragfridr. Her head was clear and focused. She wasn't at all squeamish about all the blood and gore, and she didn't even flinch every time she put the needle through Ragfridr's skin. Once all the puncture marks were bound up, Lina rubbed the salve Axelle had put on Valknut's face, onto the stitches. She then poured the remaining mead onto the provided bandages and re-wrapped Ragfridr's leg, placing the handles of their broken axes on the side to use as splints. She leaned back and sighed.

"I hate doing stuff like this. The sight of blood makes me sick."

"WHAT?" Axelle and Valknut couldn't believe it.

"But, you're so good at it."

"Only because my dad taught me how to do all that stuff. He'd like it if I was a healer like him. I'd rather be an herb woman and make potions. Let someone else be the village physician."

"But, you were so calm doing all that stuff."

"It took everything in me to not faint. See how I'm shaking?" Lina held up an unsteady hand. "I only acted brave so Ragfridr wouldn't get stressed out too."

Lina straightened and brushed some hair out of Ragfridr's face. She stopped and felt her forehead. "Oh breast milk of Freya, Ragfridr has a fever. Axelle give me your vest." Axelle started to remove her fur vest, but Lina pulled it off of her herself. She laid it down across Ragfridr's chest and tucked it under her body. "We have to keep her warm. Huddle around her." Lina sat Ragfridr up and put her head on her shoulders. She hugged her close. "Axelle get on the other side and do what I'm doing. Valknut, lay yourself long-wise on her front."

"Isn't that a little weird?"

"Just do it. Ragfridr could die if we don't get this fever down. Who knows how long it's been stewing."

So the three girls held their best friend close all night long.

Outside the horrible and cliché lair of Alvin the Treacherous, the sun was setting below the North Sea. Back on Berk, families were sitting down to dinner, but the three knew there were at least four families that weren't. Theirs. They wondered if their families had even realized that they were gone yet. Had Hiccup woken up? Would they be rescued by morning? Then they remembered that their dragons had flown back to Berk. Surely that would be a clue in that they were gone.

One by one, the three girls fell asleep, to dream their own thoughts. The first day of imprisonment was done.


	5. Chapter 5

How to Trust a Dragon

Get the Girls

The second day of capture was rather uneventful. Of course, being locked in a cage warrants uneventful events. Ragfridr's fever was lower in the morning, but she slept on, even when Valknut was poking her face, trying to wake her up.

It was very hard to tell what time it was. The only light in Alvin's lair was produced by torches and glowworms. Axelle had tried to listen to the outside tide, thinking the crashing of the waves as the tide receded could give them an inkling to the time. It didn't work.

"I'm bored," Valknut whined. "Why did that patch-worked flop have to break our axes."

"How would that help you from being bored?"

"You and I could fight."

"Maybe," Lina said quietly, sitting beside Ragfridr," we could be thinking of ways to escape."

"Droopy face is right!" Valknut jumped up and started to climb the walls of the cell.

"Valknut! Come down from there! I don't need Uncle Tuff mad at me for letting you get hurt."

"You're not the boss of me, worry wart."

"I'm a year older than you."

"Technicality." Without much care, Valknut fumbled for holds and hauled herself vertically up the wall.

"I don't think you're going to find a way out up there," Axelle called up to her.

"Shut up, eyebrow troll." Lina and Axelle dropped their protests and watched Valknut climb. She got up as far as she could go then inched around the top, looking for any holes or crevices. "I'm not seeing anything," she said, pouting. She started down.

"I told you you wouldn't find anything."

"At least I tried something." The two glowered at each other.

"Guys, now is not the time to be fighting," Lina said. "It won't do us any good." Axelle sighed.

"Lina is right. What we need to do now is think of a way out of here." Axelle looked up at where the bars met the stone wall. She climbed up the stone side a ways so she could get a better look at how the hardware was fastened to the wall. It looked like it was simply bolted, but she couldn't make heads or tail of the strength or weakness of it. She shook her head and came down from the wall. "Ah, how this cell was put together, that's something for Ragfridr. I don't know nothing about metal and the what-not."

"What do you need me for?" Ragfridr stirred in Lina's arms. She looked up groggily at her friends.

"Hey, it's about time you woke up," Valknut said kneeling down beside her. "You are a very deep sleeper," she said as she poked Ragfrifr's face. She weakly brushed Valknut's hand away.

"How are you feeling?" Lina asked. Ragfridr blinked her eyes a bit, like she was trying to clear blurriness from them.

"I feel… like… Toothless knocked me all the way down the hill. But yesterday I felt like a dragon had bitten my leg, so you be the judge of which is better."

"She's definitely feeling better," Axelle grinned. "What I was talking about is the bar fixture to the wall of the cell. I was wondering if we could break it, like if it was weak enough to do that." Ragfridr looked at the hardware. She saw from the cracks in the stone that the bolts had been bored very deep in and simply forcing them out was an entirely different matter.

"From what I can see, the bolts are the strongest thing about the cell bars. Alvin is relying on the crisscross of the metal door to be strength enough to keep whatever he's captured in."

"That's right," came Alvin's slimy voice. He appeared from around the corner, thump-cluncking as he walked. He carried a bucket of fish in his one hand. "Such a clever little Haddock you are. And you know something else, this cell has held against stronger creatures than you. This cell is dragon proof, so there's no hope of you or your little friends getting out." Alvin laughed and dumped the bucket of fish at them. Valknut blanched. She took one of the fish and tossed it at Alvin. It flew through the bars and smacked squarely on Alvin's shoulder. He curled his lip at her. "I'd be a bit more careful if I were you. Your parents won't survive for long once they get here. I'm going to kill every single one of them and then, all of you."

"But why?" Axelle said. "What have you got against our parents?"

"Hm, you're Snotlout's brat, aren't you, with those ridiculous looking eyebrows." Axelle's hands flew to her helmet. She brought it down over her brow. "I really have nothing personal against all the other's except that they're 'friends' with Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. You see, he and I have a long history filled with hate, scandal and him mostly robbing me of what is rightfully mine. The first time I met that little troll of a vivking-" Valknut tugged on Axelle's sleeve.

"Is he monologing?"

"- Was when I was looking for the treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly-"

"He's monologing," Axelle said.

"Wait, Grimbeard the Gahstly, you mean my great-great-great grandfather?"

"Yes, and don't interrupt me! I was looking for the treasure and decided to trick those simple minded Berk Vikings into helping me. I found the treasure, in Berk Bay of all places, and so did Hiccup. He fed me to a Monstrous Strangulator, causing me to lose all my hair!"

"You go eaten by a Monstrous Stangulator?" Valknut eyes widened in disbelief.

"There's no treasure in Berk Bay," Ragfridr said. My dad would have said something to someone."

"Ha, you're father is afraid the treasure will cause unrest in his precious little village. But I wasn't finished. The next time Hiccup foiled my plans –"

"How long are we going to have to listen to him?" Valknut whispered into Axelle's ear.

" – Was when I was an esteemed member of the Roman Court, living a life of luxury at Fort Sinister."

"We're his prisoners. This must be how he tortures prisoners," Axelle whispered to Valknut.

"I had such a wonderful plan to get rid of Hiccup. Feed him to the sharkworms! And once I took care of him, I was going to raid Berk, take it over and get the treasure."

"Wait a second, I know about Fort Sinister, but all the ballads say that Dad defeated the Romans by scaring them away by pretending to be Thor, having a whole bunch of nano dragons carry him. That was how he kept Berk from being destroyed by the Romans."

"Oh, well that did happen, but you left out the part where Hiccup left me to be eaten by the sharkworms!"

"You were eaten by sharkworms too?" Valknut was beginning to understand why Alvin was so patch-worked. So were the other girls.

"Then there was the volcano. It was an unusually hot summer in the Viking Archipelago and I –"

"How long is this guy gonna talk?" Valknut said through her teeth.

"And I was after revenge against Hiccup. He'd caused me to lose more than just my treasure by then; I know was missing an eye and a leg because of Hiccup."

"This guy talks like Gobber, I'm not believing any of this," Axelle whispered to the others.

"But instead of getting revenge, Hiccup dropped me down a volcano in the mouth of a Fire Dragon!"

"This guy gets eaten a lot, it seems," Lina whispered.

"After I escaped that, things just went downhill. Time and time again, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III foiled every plan. My only reason for existence was to kill him. With him out of the way, I could get my treasure and be the ruler of Berk. The last time we met was when I almost got what was rightfully mine. It just so happened to be on the island where he killed that dragon that made him oh so famous. It was a glorious battle between the two of us. We were almost evenly matched with our swordsmanship, bit I was better. I was backing him off the side of a cliff. He was going to fall to a very sharp end and I was finally going to beat Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. But his dragon came out of nowhere and I was the one who fell off that cliff. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III had gotten me again. He probably thought I was finally gone, but how wrong he was, I survived and this time, I will kill him and I will get the treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly and be the ruler of Berk!"

"If that treasure is in the Bay of Berk, then it belongs to Berk. And only a descendent of Grimbeard the Ghastly can be a chief of Berk."

"Oh, but you see little Haddock, I am a Haddock. Hiccup and I are distant cousins and he knows this. He knows that _I_ am the rightful heir of Grimbeard the Ghastly and he stopped me, taking it for himself."

"You're more cracked than a broken shield. Chief Hiccup didn't steal his position. His dad gave it to him," Axelle said haughtily to Alvin.

"Oh, you'd like to believe that wouldn't you; Hiccup is a perfect man, a kind hearted chief and the best dragon trainer in the world. He's not so perfect as you think he is. What ever stories he's fed you are all lies. What I've just said is the truth." Alvin smirked at the girls. Lina raised her hand a bit.

"Um… Mr. Alvin, I'd hate to be a stickler for details, but no one on Berk has ever mentioned you, so we're having a bit of a hard time believing you."

"Hiccup probably wrote up some decree that allows no one to ever talk about me. And just who are you? Wait… you look like that floppy Fishlegs character with the sausage dragon."

"That's a little uncalled for. My dad isn't floppy, he's a very healthy sized Viking and-"

"So you are his daughter. I might have known, you're just as fat as he is."

_Oh no! He's done it now!_ Ragfridr thought.

_Oh, Thor, I better cover my ears now._ Axelle brought her hands up to her ears.

_Awesome! Lina's scream will make the bars shatter!_ Valknut moved away from the bars so the shrapnel wouldn't hit her.

Lina's face began to twitch. Her lower lip trembled and tears began to well at the corner of her eyes. Then, her eyebrows snapped down and her upper lip arched in a snarl. She jumped up and rushed at the bars, which was a bad thing. Ragfridr had been leaning against Lina and she almost fell over, if it hadn't been for Valknut who caught her.

"Who are you calling fat, you mismatched sorry excuse for a Viking?" Lina was yelling. She was actually yelling. Ragfridr, Valknut and Axelle dropped their jaws as they watched their friend literally go berserk. "It looks like you put a beaten tin cup on your face for a nose, you one eyed, hair challenged puss sucking wanna be master conspirator! Did you get put back together by a blind, thumbless giant? I bet they didn't even wood glue. You're falling apart, you sapless tree! Just you wait, my parents are gonna turn you into kindling, you brainless boob!"

Alvin stood slightly slack jawed for a second or two. he'd never been chewed out by a child before. Slowly he said:

"Your mother wouldn't happen to be Ruffnut the Merciless, would she?"

"Yeah, and she's gonna gut you like a fish and feed you to the Scullions!" Alvin said nothing, but he did start to chuckle slightly as he hobbled away, the Stormblade dragging on the ground.

As his figure and chortle grew fainter, Lina's storm-clouded face slowly cleared and her green eyes once more grew an innocent light. She whipped her head to her friends, causing Axelle and Valknut to jump (they had been clutching to each other in terror at the rant of Lina). She blinked a few times at them, her eyes wide and blank.

"Did I just insult that man?" They nodded. "Oh, I hope I didn't hurt his feelings." Valknut couldn't believe what she had just said.

"What?" She dropped Axelle with a thud. "He sent dragons to Berk with ill intent, kidnapped Ragfirdr, injured her, broke our axes so we couldn't wallop him, put us in a cage and is holding us hostage _and_ is conspiring to kill our parents and _you_ are worried if you hurt his feelings?"

"Oh, well, I do suppose I have some right to insult him. I just hope I didn't insult his mother." Valknut slapped her forehead and groaned. Just when she thought she finally had a decent cousin, she reverts back to being nice. Ragfridr laughed weakly and sighed, leaning against the cave wall. She was very tired and the pain in her leg was coming back.

"Lina, do you have any more herbs?"

"I think so." Lina reached into her vest and extracted a small red pouch. "I don't have any burdock left, but there is willow bark. You could chew on that and that will take some of the pain away." Lina handed the bark over to her and Ragfridr began to masticate it slowly. Lina inspected her leg again and muttered, "Though that Alvin character is a pile of steaming dragon logs. Maybe I should insult his mother. What kind of villain holds hostages if he's not going to keep them healthy," Lina mumbled to herself.

Valknut started to climb the walls again, looking for any crevice they could escape from. Axelle stood in front of the bars her arms crossed, deep in thought.

"Valknut, just give up. This cell is dragon proof, remember."

"Yeah, _dragon_ proof, not Viking proof. And since when did you become such an invertebrate?"

"I agree with Valknut," said Lina.

"You never agree with me. Maybe Ragnarok is coming."

"I mean, we shouldn't just give up. When our parents get here, they're going to be putting their lives on the line for us. We should do our part too and see if we can save ourselves."

"Well, that would be fine. I'd like nothing more than that," Ragfridr said.

"Then what's the problem," asked Valknut as she lowered herself down.

"The fact that we have nothing to work with in this cell. If we had the proper leverage as well as materials, we could build a fulcrum and lift the bars out of their sockets and be free."

"Fulcrum?" Valknut didn't understand a lot that came out of Ragfridr's mouth.

"A wedge with a board on the top of it. And even if we did break free, we'd have to find a ride home. And don't forget, I can't walk. Someone will have to carry me. And we really can't fly home on the Skirll or the Whispering Death. So if you have a plan, go for it." Ragfridr kept speaking slower and slower. Her head was becoming muddled as her fever rose again.

"Humfrf." Valknut plopped herself down on the stone floor and pouted. She took notice of Axelle brooding by the door. "You've been awfully quite. What's the matter, Terror got your tongue."

"Don't any of you find it odd that Alvin has had dealings with all of our parents and they've never mentioned him?" They did find it odd. "Ragfridr, there are tons of ballads about your dad, is Alvin the Treacherous even mentioned in any of them?" Ragfridr thought, considering the question longer than usual. She did have a fever.

"No. Not a one. Nothing about a treasure or volcanoes or a fight for the chieftain title. Nothing. There is the Roman story, but it doesn't mention an Alvin at all."

"Pfft, our parents probably thought they finally got rid of him the last time they saw that noseless freak and didn't want to be reminded of him."

"Valknut might be right," said Axelle considering the explanation.

"Okay, now I'm positive that Ragnarok is coming. You never agree with me either"

"What… we… need," Ragfridr was speaking very slowly, "is a… way to… put enough… force… on the… bars in… the middle of the door… and it should… break free-" Ragfridr trailed off. Her eyes fluttered shut and stayed shut. She breathed lightly past her lips. Lina nudged her a bit.

"She's asleep." Lina finished with Ragfridr's leg and scooted up against her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. She brushed a bit of hair out of her face. "Her fever is down considerably. I think she'll be fine. We just have to wait for our parents to come."

"Yeah, and when they get here, that crazy guy is gonna kill them," said Axelle as she picked up the fish Alvin had thrown at them. She tossed them out of the cell then sat down with her back against one of the walls.

"Try to kill them," Valknut corrected her. "If our parents have gone up against that guy before and he's failed in killing them in all these years, why would he get lucky now? The gods obviously hate him."

"That seems to be true. I mean what are the odd that someone gets eaten more than once?" asked Axelle.

"Not high, I'm sure," said Lina, smiling.

"Our parents won't be coming any time soon," Valknut said. She was standing by the cell door. "You saw how Chief Hiccup looked. I know he's tough, but even he can't fight with a dragon egg lump on his head, blurring up his vision and making him unsteady. Even if he and our parents come; it's going to be awhile. Which is why I'm not giving up. We have to try and do our part and be heroes. Save ourselves instead of waiting for somebody else. I'm going to get out of here. You two are welcome to help." Valknut spit into her hands and cracked her knuckles. "Ragfridr mentioned something about force on the middle of this thing." She put her hands on the cell bars and pushed on them. She put her whole weight against the door and all she did was slide down to the floor. She picked herself up and pushed against the bars again. And slide to the floor. "I'm not giving up," she said defiantly.

For the rest of the evening and into the night, Lina and Axelle watched Valknut try to break the door down.

Back on Berk, another sun had set and Hiccup was still unconscious. Astrid had finally managed to convince the others to go home and be with their own families. She would send for them when Hiccup woke up. The four left the chief's house and made their way to theirs. Fishlegs and Ruffnut walked hand in hand home, both saying nothing as they entered their front door.

Lugnut was sitting up, reading a book by firelight. When his parents came in, he popped his head up, expectant. Ruff shook her head at her son. He bowed his head. He put his book aside and stoked the fire.

"I put the twins to bed. They kind of fought me about it." They must have really fought back. Fishlegs and Ruffnut saw a bruise forming on his cheek.

"What about Lina?" Fishlegs asked.

"She's been hauled up in her room for the last two days. She hasn't come out once."

"Oh no." Ruffnut looked upstairs to where her daughter slept. "I better go talk to her."

"I'll come with you." Fishlegs put a hand on her shoulder and they walk up the stairs.

Lina had her own special room in the house. Having three brothers warrants for a space all to one's self. While Lugngut, Fishfins and Fishscales shared a room, Lina could actually be alone. Ruffnut had wanted to give her daughter the ability to be away from her brothers, something she didn't get to do much when she was Lina's age. Fishlegs knocked on Lina's door.

"Lina, sweetie? Can you open the door?" Ruffnut called as softly as she could, something she wasn't used to. "Lina?" She knocked on the door. Ruffnut put her ear to the door and listened. She turned to her husband. "I don't hear her crying. She'd be crying, right?"

"Maybe she's asleep? Lina?" Fishlegs called for his daughter. Ruffnut pulled at the latch and opened the door.

It was dark in Lina's room. They could barely just see her in her bed.

"Lina?" Ruffnut crossed the room. She didn't hear her breathing. She sat down on the bed and put her arm on her daughter's shoulder. But it wasn't her shoulder. Ruffnut knitted her brow together as her hand sunk into pillows. She ripped back the covers. Lina was not in the bed. Ruffnut turned to Fishlegs. His eyes were as wide as hers and just as terror stricken.

"Where's Lina?"

When Snotlout got home, Grid was waiting for him. As soon as he saw his wife, Snotlout took her in his arms. She rubbed his back.

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Is the chief any better?"

"Nope."

"He'll be better in no time. He's not going to lie around forever. He has a daughter to rescue."

"Yeah." Snotlout released his wife and sat down at the table. Grid put a plate of food in front of him. He picked at it. "Where are our kids?"

"I sent the boys to bed. I don't they're asleep though."

"I think Hiccup's the only who's asleep in the whole village. What about Axelle?"

"She locked herself in her room."

"Oh…" Snotlout pushed himself away from the table. "You really can't blame her, I mean; Ragfridr is one of her friends. If she could, she'd go after her herself. I'm going to talk to her."

"What are you going to say?"

"No idea. Try to reassure her, tell her everything's gonna be okay. Before Hiccup got smacked in the head, he mentioned something about those dragons being trained. They were taking Ragfridr to their master or something like that."

"I did think it odd that those two dragons were specifically attacking people. They weren't attacking like the other dragons when they raided our village."

"Yeah." Snotlout walked to the back of the house and pulled back a curtain that lead to the store room. Beyond that was Axelle's room.

When Axelle was born, Snotlout and Grid decided to add on to the house so she could have her own room, away from the boys. The only place they had been able to extend their house was at the back. Snotlout knocked on the door.

"Axelle? Can I come in, honey? Axelle?" It wasn't like her to not answer. He opened the door.

"Axelle?" He poked his head around the door. He scanned the room, but saw no one. No one was in the corners, at the desk or even in the bed. "Axelle? Grid! Where's Axelle?"

As soon as Tuffnut opened the door Waternut and Tuffnut III ran to him and grabbed a hold of his legs, plopping their little bottoms down on his feet. He didn't even protest. His wife, Butternut and Hazelnut sat at the table. His other two daughters stood up and ran to their father as well. He hugged them close. It was nice to see his family after such a long span of two days. Valdis came over to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Alright, girls, I said you could stay up until your father got home. Now it's time for bed."

"Alright," they mumbled. The two older girls each received a kiss from their father on the top of their head and they started up the stairs to their loft. Butternut stopped halfway up and turned to her father.

"Dad, Valknut hasn't left her bed."

"Oh? That doesn't sound like her. I should probably talk to her, right?" He looked at Valdis. She nodded her head.

"Girls, why don't you come back down here while your father talks to Valknut." Butternut and Hazelnut walked back down the stairs. Tuffnut took his boots off, sliding the twins off with them. Valdis picked up the two and took them to her and Tuffnut's room to put them in their cribs for the night.

At the top of the staircase, Tuffnut called out Valknut's name. Her bed was at the end of the loft. It was dark in that corner and he could just see the shape of her turned on her side in her bed.

"Valknut, dragon kid, it's okay." He walked over to her, trying to formulate the right words to say. Of all his kids, Valknut was the one he didn't need to talk like this too. He'd never done it before and he wasn't even sure her was doing it right. "Hiccup is still out cold, but he's gonna wake up soon and we're going to go rescue your friend. Dad can handle anything, you know that right. Dad's awesome and he's going to do everything he can to help save Ragfridr. So, don't be upset, alright? Valknut?" He sat down on the end of her bed and reached for her shoulder. Her shoulder felt funny, soft, like a pillow. He slowly pulled the covers back and found not his daughter lying in her bed, but three pillows set up to look like a body.

"Valdis, where is Valknut?"

Astrid ran her fingers through Hiccup's hair, smiling as she did. He was going to wake up soon. She just knew it.

It was just her, Toothless and Hiccup. Ari had left to go for a walk, which was just as well. Ari didn't need to be sitting around worrying.

Astrid sighed and looked at her hands, wondering if she was ever going to be able to hold her little girl again.

She suddenly heard what sounded like a horde of dragons plowing their way up the path to the house. She looked to the door just in time to see Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut burst through the door.

"Our daughters are gone!" Each one said the same thing, but it was almost too garbbled for Astrid to understand.

"What?" Astrid stood up and advanced towards them. "What do you mean they're gone?"

"Lina-"

"And Axelle –"

"And Valknut –"

"Are gone!"

"We found none of them in their beds," Ruffnut told Astrid.

"No one has apparently seen them since two days ago," Snotlout stated.

"I checked the dragon stables," Fishlegs said," and Flamehorn and Acid Breath and Tangerine are gone too.

"We have no idea where they could have gone." Ruffnut sounded upset, like she was trying to keep from crying.

"They went after Ragfridr." Every head wiped to Hiccup. His eyes were open and he was groggily looking at them. Toothless perked up and jumped up on the bed, licking his human's face. Hiccup pushed him down, scratching him behind his ears.

"Hiccup, you're finally awake," Fishlegs explained.

"Yeah, and I don't want anyone telling me how long I was out." He pushed himself up. "The other girls thought ahead and went to go rescue Ragfridr themselves. They figured that you all would see me as the top priority, am I right?" The others nodded their heads. "And we are not going to waste anymore time. We're going to get the girls."

"Not in the condition you're in," Astrid chided at him, trying to push him back down. Hiccup brushed her away.

"No, I know where they are, or at least who they went to. And I do not want our daughter to be around that man." The others went silent. They could guess at what 'man' he meant.

"Hiccup, you don't mean… him?" Snotlout said.

"I do."

"Hiccup, he couldn't have survived _that!_ No one could," Ruff said adamantly.

"He survived everything else."

"But, if it is him, it's been years since we last had any confrontations with him. Why would he show up now?" Fishlegs looked from Hiccup to the others. They nodded in agreement.

"Probably has some master plan of revenge against me. Wonder what he's got in mind this time. When those dragons attacked, the Skrill was targeting me. Once it got a hold of Ragfridr, it probably smelled my scent on her and thought it had the right quarry."

"So instead of you," Astrid said slowly, "he got Ragfridr instead and now the other girls."

"Oh, suffering scallops," Fishlegs mumbled. "Poor Lina, she must be terrified right now."

"Valknut probably went and did something stupid. Knowing her, I bet she bit him." Tuffnut crossed his arms. "She's going to get an earful when I get her home. I've been far too lenient with that girl."

"Axelle is going to be peeling potatoes for an entire year," Snotlout said, seething.

"Right, so, Vikings, grab your shields. It's time to go rescue our daughters."


End file.
